This past Monday, Dec. 1, the HHS one-act cast traveled to Charlottesville, VA to compete in and take the first place in the 4A state competition.

Not only did the cast take the first place trophy home, but also three of the four available acting awards presented at the competition. Sophomore Ben Hollenbeck, junior Jaymie Inouye, and senior Isabelle Burden all received an “Outstanding Acting Award”.

Inouye, along with every other member of the cast, has been craving the state champion title the entire season.

“[Hearing we had won was] amazing. It’s so stressful sitting there waiting to hear what the rankings are… but once you hear but it’s like a huge weight is lifted off your shoulders,” Inouye said.

Sophomore Genevieve Cowardin finds the success of winning nearly too good to be true.

“I don’t even know how to describe it. There was so much build-up to [the result] and it had been something that we had all known that we had wanted from the very beginning the first day of practice. The feeling of accomplishment and the excitement [was great],” Cowardin said.

Cowardin credits the one-act’s directors, Stanley and Alanna Swartz, to the cast’s ability to obtain the state champion title.

“They are amazing directors and they really know how to help us understand what they are looking for. [They] give that show an extra level,” Cowardin said.

Consistent practice has also benefitted the team, practice for three months every day for nearly two hours after school for preparation for their 35 minute performance.

“We practiced a lot… we worked on everything. We worked on timing, we worked on characters, we worked on every nitty-gritty detail over and over and over again and I really think that helped us be prepared for what we needed to do,” Inouye said.

Most of the one-act cast will now move on to the HHS musical this year, “Seussical”.

“It’s going to be different from what I’ve done at the high school and what a lot of [the musical cast] has done… We’re trying to make it bigger and better than it was before,” Inouye said.