Gallery • 12 Photos

Ryan Doerr

The entire cast poses for their final picture

The Stage Streaks have had a long run with their original one act play, “That Was Then.” Rehearsals began in Sept. of 2016 with an in-progress script, and the cast and crew have placed first at the Virginia Theatre Association conference and the VHSL conference, regional and state level competitions. This is an unprecedented feat for a show that is both original and a musical, and it is the first one-act in HHS history to win the VTA conference.
This week, the Stage Streaks have yet another chance to rank among the best in the area at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) in Lexington, KY. Due to their first place win at VTA, the team has advanced to the regional level and will be competing against schools from 9 other states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
For the seniors of “That Was Then,” all three or four-year members of the one act team, this opportunity is completely unexpected. Senior Noelle Warne has been a part of the play since freshman year, and she never foresaw a success of this caliber.
“This is a really special opportunity. It’s not just a swan song for me; it’s a peak for the entire theatre program as well. It’s so much bigger than a high school competition. Professional actors and companies come from all over, and we get to be a part of it,” Warne said.
For senior and co-author Eleanor Alger, this was a dream come true.
“Of course I was always hopeful,” Alger said. “This has been a dream of mine since freshman year, but it was also something I never thought would happen. We’ve never had this chance before.”
SETC is a four day conference that not only boasts several theatre festivals independently of the high school level, but holds workshops, job fairs, auditions, keynotes and masterclasses with some of the biggest names in theatre. Senior Ben Hollenbeck, who plans to major in theatre next fall, is overjoyed.
“I’m hoping that it will a be a valuable learning experience,” Hollenbeck said. “I want to increase my knowledge of theatre before I actually pursue it in higher education.”
While the countless creative opportunities offered by the conference are exciting to the show’s seniors, many of the underclassmen feel that they will benefit from the chance to grow as artists even more.
For freshman Kate Cummings, who plays one of the show’s leads, Young Betty Jo, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to develop her craft.
“I’m hopeful that I will get a lot of experience and knowledge from SETC,” Cummings said. “The master classes at the VTA conference opened my mind to other possibilities in musical theatre and I was able to meet a lot of interesting artists. I hope that I will get that much out of SETC, if not more.”
Sophomore Sam Schaeffer, who is a first year member of one-act, has had a successful season so far and hopes SETC will further his love of theatre.
“Much like VTA, the workshops are going to be a good learning experience,” Schaeffer said. “It’s going to be interesting to get to learn from people who do this for a living.”
While the excitement surrounding the conference itself is abundant within the team, there is added pressure due to the quality of competing schools. Because the top two schools from each state conference advance to SETC, there will be 20 schools in this year’s competition. The Stage Streaks are representing the state of Virginia with last year’s SETC winners, Rock Ridge High School, who came in second to them at VTA in October.
For junior Julie Hedrick, who remembers last year’s VTA competition well, this news is both intimidating and exciting.
“I’m pretty nervous because everyone is really good, but I think if we can get all our characters back together after musical, we have the potential to do well,” Hedrick said.
Because of the large time gap between winning states and traveling to SETC, the one-act team will be spending less time stressing over competition and more time looking forward to what the conference will bring.
“I know the competition is really tough,” Warne said. “I think the whole conference will be much less stress and much more enjoying the moment. This is our last performance of the show, and it’s time to just have fun with it.”
The cast and crew of “That Was Then” will be performing at 1:00 P.M. on Thursday, March 2 at the Lexington Opera House in Lexington, KY. Results will be announced on March 4.