Arnold One Act wins MNAC East with ‘The Diviners’
MERNA -- As the students were pacing in front of the bleachers, the actors were sure that they had done well enough to win, but you never know what the judges will like.
The Arnold One Act team started the day of Nov. 16 hungry and hunting for a win at the Mid-Nebraska Activities Confenrece (MNAC) East Play Production Contest and came home with the win, following an upsetting second-place finish last year.
The cast and crew of Arnold’s play, “The Diviners,” have been hard at work all fall perfecting the play, and worked even harder in the three weeks leading up to the conference contest; practicing every day after school for two to three hours during the break between fall and winter sports.
“It’s not easy,” junior Lance Jones (Ferris Layman) said. “There are so many different parts of a one act play that have to work together perfectly in order for the play to go smoothly and that takes a lot of time and hard work.”
The hard work these young actors and actresses put into this masterpiece of a play showed at the conference competition. Arnold High School took home first place as a team and the team was also awarded some impressive individual acting awards with Arnold bringing home three of the four individual awards. Senior Reagan Cool received “Best Lead Actress,” senior Colbi Smith received “Best Lead Actor” and junior Lance Jones was awarded “Best Supporting Actor.”
The only individual award Arnold did not take home was “Best Supporting Actress,” which went to Isabelle Stallbaumer in Callaway’s performance of “We Are The Sea.”
Receiving second place for the day was Stapleton High School, and Callaway High took home third place.
Arnold competes in the east division of MNAC against Anselmo-Merna, Brady, Stapleton, Sargent and Callaway.
District Play Production contests begin Nov. 29 for area schools.
“The Diviners” is written by Jim Leonard, Jr. and takes place in the 1930s during the depression. The focus of the play in on Buddy Layman, a mentally-challenged boy with a special gift of finding water. (wikipedia.com)