Most people have heard about fairy tales and their cliches of damsel-saving princes, children-snatching witches and happily-ever-afters. This year, Yutan’s one act team is putting their own spin on these popular whimsical tales and well-known classic stories in their play “Late Night with Snow White.”
“The play is like Jimmy Fallon, but with fairy tale characters. Snow White would be Jimmy Fallon, and then different characters would come on and be on the show, so it’s like a talk show with fairy tale characters,” said senior Bella Sliva, who is playing the lead role, Snow White.
With 19 students in the one act this year, first-year one act director Sarah Wibben chose the play for this cast and crew size and the comedic elements.
“I chose the play based on the cast and crew size that I had. I also thought a fairy tale show might be a fun change of pace from the last one act show. The script also had a lot of puns written into it, which I really enjoyed and laughed when I read it the first time,” Wibben said.
The variety and vast range of fairy tale characters means many different interpretations of personalities that actors get to expand upon for their individual characters.
“The students bring a lot of energy to the show. It has been fun to watch them add their own flair and style to each of these characters,” Wibben said.
The students are also enjoying the chance to be comedic in the show.
“My favorite parts are when questionable guests come on like Wortilda or the Big Bad Wolf,” Sliva said. “I really like those parts because they are the funniest parts. I’m a huge fan of humor and jokes, so parts that make me laugh or the audience laugh are my favorite.”
To get the show ready for performances, the students practice three times a week: on Mondays after school and Tuesdays and Thursdays in the early morning. This is a change from previous years, where students were used to two weekly practices in the evenings from 6:30-8:00 p.m.
“Two of our practice times are in the morning from 6:45 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., so that has been a challenge to be awake enough to perform and have energy that early in the morning,” Wibben said.
Along with the practice times, the schedules and to-do lists for practices have changed.
“We get to practice, and then we start warm-ups. We start doing a game we call zoom, sirens and some tongue twisters and just things to wake ourselves up since it’s in the morning, and to get us all focused,” Sliva said.
More time for warmups has presented an issue in the eyes of some of the cast because of less time used for practicing.
“A couple challenges we’ve experienced is we have a very short time until our first show, which is Sunday of this week (Oct. 26), so we have to memorize lines really fast,” said sophomore Izaiah Hancock, who plays the roles of Pied Piper, Baby Bear, Wortilda and Rapunzel’s Representative.
The actors aren’t the only ones who sometimes struggle with tight schedules. As the costume manager, sophomore Harley Wilder has also faced some challenges in one act this year helping people with their costume changes.
“It’s hectic because you’re always helping people with costumes, always having to pick stuff up, having to help bring their costumes to people,” Wilder said.
Despite these obstacles, the benefits of one act participation inspire the team to push through them.
“You get this whole new family. It’s like when you’re on a sports team and you’re close with your team because that’s who you are. It’s the same thing with one act. You go to these competitions together, you work for these months together to put the show together so you can have the best performance you possibly can have. It’s all about the connections you make and what you guys achieve together,” Sliva said.
Wilder agrees that connections are a main benefit, along with some life skills learned.
“It’s (one act) important because it can help you make new connections with people that you wouldn’t have associated with before,” Wilder said. “They (one act members) can also help you get over stage fright or learn a new skill, like helping with lights or sound.”
These life skills are one of the things Wibben is also hoping to see her students experience throughout her first year of directing one act.
“My goal is for the students to earn more confidence in their acting and speaking skills, Wibben said. “I want them to feel good about each performance that they do, to feel like they gave 100 percent each time.”
