RTR’s play, ‘Clemson Bartholomew,’ moves on to state festival
The one-act play from Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS) – “Blues” by James McDonough – was named as the runner-up play at the Section 3A One-Act Play Festival, held Saturday, February 7 at Redwood Valley Public High School in Redwood Falls. The trio of judges gave the MLHS play a 2-4-1 ranking of the eight plays presented on the day.
Advancing to the state festival is the production from Russell/Tyler/Ruthton (RTR), “Clemson Bartholomew.” The judges rated this play 1-1-2. The State One-Act Play Festival will be held Thursday, February 12 with Class A performances and Friday, February 13 with Class AA plays, in The O’Shaughnessy on the campus of the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. The representative of Section 3A will take to the stage to earn a “starred” rating at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, February 12, the seventh of eight plays to be presented on the day.
Named as the third place one-act was “The Struggles,” presented by Pipestone Area.
Other participating schools included host Redwood Valley, Jackson County Central, Westbrook/Walnut Grove, Montevideo and Renville County West.
Judges for the contest were Don Fosburgh and Sally Burdick, both of Mankato and Mary Haugen of Hutchinson.
Their comments to the MLHS one-act included:
* Excellent stage picture.
* Costumes complemented the play very well.
* Music added to the mood of the play.
* Ensemble worked well together.
* Body language shows despair.
* Great blocking . . . varied and effective stage pictures.
* Scene changes were flawlessly executed.
* Characters were well-developed.
* Pacing was steady; a bit more variety would have been nice.
* It is tough with a serious piece to find the variety in pacing . . . it did seem to get better as the show progressed.
* Creative use of set; interesting placement of actors.
* Some lighting problems at times as some actors were in the shadows.
* You moved me to tears.
“Blues” shined a spotlight on the sub-sets of the homeless and their stories.The play takes place in a vacant lot, where street people sometimes gather. Through the play, audiences are given the opportunity to glance into the lives of people living on the streets, including the man who robbed a store to be able to feed his family – and the child who ran away – among others.
Stated Director Julie Brugman, “‘We’ were very disappointed, but are still very proud of our production – and the message we gave audiences about the various plights of the homeless!”
Directors for “Blues”
Julie Brugman and Crystal Fast
Cast of “Blues”
Gino – Ben Grev
Tonya, Sharyn, Eleana – Lydia Hildebrandt
Father, Unemployment #2, Chano – Caleb Rempel
Dee,Unemployment #1, Lynne – Olivia Hopwood
Aggie, Social Worker, Juanita – Carmen Syverson
Ice, Hap – Ethan Karschnik
Nate, Ben, Zach – Sam Grev
Quinn, Ynez – Liana Blomgren
Evangelical Woman – Kenna Gardiner
Knife Woman – Brook Sunderman
Mark – Regan Syverson
Chip – Eli Karschnik
Homeless Person – Issac Grev
Crew for “Blues”
Lights – Jareya Harder
Sound – Eric-John Niss de Jesus