Cook County High School One Act cast of “All I Really Needed To Know I Learned By Being in a Bad Play” Grace Ritchey, Abbey Stoddard, Bryn Fitzgerald -Wells(back), Kylie Viren(front), Saira Smith. Not pictured: Kaylee and Keean Selin. Photo courtesy of Sue Hennessy
The Cook County High School One Act play has begun rehearsals and is working toward a virtual performance to be sent in to contest officials on January 29. The play is a satirical farce “All I Really Need to Know I Learned by Being in a Bad Murder Mystery” by Werner Trieschmann.
The Actors are Abbey Stoddard, Saira Smith, Bryn Fitzgerald-Wells, Kylie Viren, Grace Ritchey, Kaylee and Keean Selin. The Director is Sue Hennessy.
This year is very different for the Minnesota State High School League One Act Competition. Some schools will be remote with virtual performances, using zoom, google meets and such while some, like Cook County, will be in person following state guidelines and will video a performance with one camera, no editing. Judges are coached about the different systems each school is working in and reminded that this is not a film festival. They must judge each school on the criteria given them which focuses on the actors. The process is always subjective, but this year will be even more so. The state coordinators are asking schools to look at this as a festival and not a competition and to enjoy the ability to make theater any way we can!
Cook County’s play is a silly farcical satire of theater and this ensemble works the play as homage to the art-form we are so desperately hungry for.
The plot: A collection of bad actors take on the genre that will not die– the murder mystery! The performers attempt to nail down those devilish British accents, and understand what a red herring is. Meanwhile the director and stage manager, who really love dealing with the egomaniacs and lunatics in the cast, wouldn’t really try to murder someone during the murder mystery. Would they? Chaos rules the day as time is running out for cast and crew to sort out this mess.
The performance will be taped in front of a small invited audience. A public virtual performance is in discussion.
The competition has fewer participants this year, there are only two subsections in our region instead of three so for the first round Cook County will “compete” against Two Harbors, Aitkin, Esko, and Silver Bay with the top three moving on to regionals.
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