One Act Play is more than just a competition for theatre students.  For them, it means challenges, stress, and hard work.

“One Act Play in one word, I would say it is dedication. It’s more than that because it’s something where we can all be involved in the process,” senior Olivia Callan said.

This year the students put their dedication and hard work into the production of “The Cover of Life.”

The play follows the journey of Kate Miller to Louisiana to interview three wives bonded together by their husbands who were drafted to fight in World War II.

Bringing a play from script to stage can lead to many obstacles, making the production process more difficult.

“There’s a lot of challenges. The biggest is telling an interesting story with the limited amount of time we have. Most [of the]time we have to cut down shows that would normally be two hours into 40 minutes and still have the audience buy in, feel the grief, feel the sadness, feel the joy, that our actors portray out there to the audience,” theatre director Alan Copeland said.

It’s these challenges that contribute to the overall reward of producing a great show.

“[The process] is definitely, completely a hundred percent worth it because growing closer to all of these people and to Ms. Copeland and Coach Copeland and just knowing when you perform getting that gratification of hopefully the audience enjoying it; but then also giving your best performance,” Callan said.

From the beginning of the play to the end, this gratification was displayed on stage.

“To see students and young adults striving to impact people’s lives with their art and their expression they impact their own lives. To see them transition from the beginning of the play to the end of the play, seeing character development, understanding mannerisms and techniques to get them to be better in public communication and better in their future with their lives and what career they take on…is a reward outside of just going on and trying to advance,”Coach Copeland said.

At the Zone Contest, several theatre members earned awards for their hard work.

Nicole Leatherman won best technician.

Madison Breeding won an honorable mention in All-Star Cast.

Also, Olivia Callan and Amanda Childs won All-Star Cast.

But what made the show successful was the cast and crew uniting as one to produce a great show.

By the time the curtains closed on their last performance, the students knew they were a family.

“We have a little family within theatre. I feel this shows who everyone really is in theatre and their dedication and commitment,” freshman Eli Doggett said.