Message from One Act Play:
Ballinger High School hosted and competed in the District 4-3A OAP competition on March 21 with Reckless by Craig Lucas. They were one of the top three schools to advance to the Bi-District competition held at Angelo State University on March 25 along with Wall and Sonora High School. Unfortunately, Ballinger was not named one of the advancing schools from the Bi-District competition.
Individual honors at District were: Helen Brown, honor crew; Jon Binder, best sound technician; Bryce Bennett, Zakk Ottmers, and Cole Zenter, honorable mention all-star cast; and Kenzie Arrott, all-star cast. Individual honors at Bi-District were: Emily Biscoe, honor crew; Jon Binder, best sound technician; Zakk Ottmers, honorable mention all-star cast; and Kenzie Arrott, all-star cast.
I am very proud of the work Ballinger’s students put into this production. Their performance Saturday was beyond my expectations and was an improvement from their district performance Tuesday. I could not have asked for more from them. They have consistently put every bit of effort they have into our productions this year and have pushed themselves further than even they thought possible. The OAP this year was very different from anything they have ever produced before, and to that end, was incredibly difficult for them to wrap their heads around. However, they banded together as a company and were able to find the truth in this literature, which is that no matter what happens in life (and there are some crazy things that happen in the lives of these characters), it is up to us to decide whether we run from life, ignore it, or choose to accept and learn from it.
The company included seniors Kenzie Arrott, Emily Biscoe, Helen Brown, Zakk Ottmers, Raven Parra, and Michael Young; juniors Bryce Bennett, Jon Binder, Shelby Flores, and Richard Parra; sophomores Marina DeHoyos, Hagen Garvin, Clarice McKinnon, Heather Speckels, and Cole Zenter; and freshmen Sierra Bowen, Laura Brown, Ethan Gonzales, and Garrett Zertuche. I would like to personally thank all of these students, and especially the seniors for their dedication to the theatre program throughout their years in high school. Our successes are due in large part to their leadership, and they have left an indelible legacy for those coming behind them.
We would also like to extend a thank you to our assistant directors Brian Arrott and Janet Wilson, principal Robert Webb, superintendent Jeff Butts, the members of the school board, as well as all of the faculty and staff at Ballinger ISD who gave of their time and resources to help our company be successful at contest and also for their help in hosting the district contest.
We will have a performance of the show in April for the student body, and we invite anyone who was unable to see the show at contest to come see it then. Their next project will be a musical review in May which will showcase the new lighting and sound system in the auditorium. Thank you again to all!
