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Curtain rises on One Act play season

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Seniors dominate this year’s Wynot One Act play cast

WYNOT — The One Act play season is here as the Wynot High School team hosted its own festival Saturday.

The Blue Devils finished third in the District last year and move up to Class D1 for the 2020-21 season. They will enter the competition by performing “Oz,” by Don Zolidia.

“I chose a drama and a comedy every year and then let the kids pick from there,” Wynot coach Heather Heimes said. “The kids liked the comedic aspects of this play: it’s a comedic adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. “It has some funny moments and lines and there are a lot of kids who get a chance to display their talents.”

Those talents are in abundance, according to Heimes.

“Thirteen out of the 15 seniors in school are out for One Act and their leadership on the team is invaluable,” Heimes said. “I and my assistant coaches may be working with a certain group and the seniors will stop a student and talk to them about expectations - inflections on a certain line, how to act and react in character. We also have a veteran tech crew.

“It’s awesome to be able to come into practice and they just know what to set up before we even have to tell them.”

Heimes said that the team also has 10 fresh faces on board with 10 new freshmen out.

“This hopefully means we’ll be stronger in upcoming years but means that we struggle at times with expectations and off-stage discipline,” Heimes said. “It takes a year to see some really good shows and understand what judges are looking for. My biggest worry with a comedic piece is the lack of audience allowed at districts and conference to help with energy and laughter.”

The move up in class is definitely going to be another challenge as Wynot hopes to navigate through a pandemic. “We’re nervous this year moving up a class, but the kids are very

“We’re nervous this year moving up a class, but the kids are very talented,” Heimes said. “The good part is we come from a very tough conference in play and speech. By going against the best in the state, it makes us better.

“On top of making it to state in football and volleyball - our kids do everything in our school to make it a success. I have band, chorus, athletes, and academics on our team. We have kids going to quiz bowl, state volleyball, and state football, and preparing for all state chorus and conference honor choir. They are such a talented and resilient group. It wreaks havoc on practice at times, but we are so proud of our kids. It helps that we are supported by coaches in other areas, our administration, board and the community.”

Admittedly, it was not easy getting ready for “Oz” in the age of COVID-19.

“The pandemic has done a number on practices,” Heimes said. “I have little idea if kids are using facials — we are 100 percent masked. We quarantined for a week and a half and zooming is tough for physical comedy. We worked on memorization so when we came back, we could focus on the physical needs of the piece.”

One side note is that Heimes is able to work with three of her children this year including Zoey Wieseler who is an assistant coach and Trystan and Isabelle Heimes who are on the team.

Trystan Heimes is feeling really optimistic with the team as the number reflects an enthusiasm for the one-act process.

“We have about 50 kids that go out every single year and it helps that everyone has the drive to be good,” he said. “We have a lot of good actors on the team and the seniors and juniors are filling out a lot of big spots.”

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