Subsections
Breathtaking. That’s possibly the only word I can describe a performance that stunned viewers and left many in a puddle of tears. St. Clair One Act has had a recent string of victories at Subsections, and they repeated their success with their third straight first place finish on January 25 at Maple River.
One Act consists of 45 minute performances which include 10 minutes of set-up time–which St. Clair needed every second due to a large stage in the background–and 35 minutes of performance. They had competed well at a friendly Festival on January 11 and received critical feedback that helped create a “much more improved show” according to Stuve. A send-off performance for the One Act community was given the previous night and Stuve beamed with pride at the team’s effort, “Definitely the best we have performed the show, and we’re excited to put on a great show at subsections.”
For the uninitiated, A Dark Road centers around the relationship between two German sisters during WWII. Greta, played by Olivia McGowan, takes a job as a prison guard at an all-female concentration camp and eventually becomes a reprehensible figure warped by a madman’s ideology. McGowan has played duplicitous characters before as she was the villain in the Cyclone Theater’s fall showings of A Cursed Child, but there was a certain wickedness she brought to Greta as both a depraved prison guard and sister to Lise, played by Ana Ordaz.
As the first spotlight hit the stage, the Cyclones One Act team showed immense stage presence from start to finish. While A Dark Road mostly centers around Greta’s descent into pure hatred, it was the collective performances of multiple actors on stage that gave the show an amplified effect on the audience. MacKenzie Lehmann, Maria Miller, and Leah Wakefield played a trio of tyrants against the Ensemble of Jewish prisoners at the camp and they seemed to relish in striking prisoners with batons, barking orders to stand in cold temperatures, and subjecting them to cruel medical experiments.
Lincoln Froehlich would shine as the moral center of the show as Daimler, a journalist interviewing Greta moments before her public hanging for her war crimes as a prison guard. Despite being somewhat of a novice at One Act, Froehlich looked composed as Daimler balanced sympathy with apprehension as he learned more about Greta’s story. One noteworthy scene near the end of the play had Daimler slapping Greta after she reveled in sending Lise to her demise.
McGowan and Ordaz were the backbone of the production as they represented the polarity of conflicting ideologies during the WWII era, and some could even make modern ties to the central beliefs behind both characters. The two shined in every scene they shared whether it was a tender embrace between sisters or a screaming match that ended with Greta choking Lise in a fury. Ordaz especially pulled heartstrings every time she attempted to appeal to her sister’s humanity, and as she was being taken away by prison guards, a bloodcurdling scream sent shivers down the spectator’s spines.
As Greta stomped up the stairs to the gallows–accepting of her punishment–a silhouette of Lise in a black robe offered the noose that would be placed around Greta’s neck. A brilliant reminder that our past never truly leaves us. Greta accepted her punishment as McGowan delivered a convincing performance of a character who believed their actions to be right and just…defiant until their last breath and free of their own self-judgement. Just as the theater went to black, Greta shouted a final message before the pull of the lever took her down, “There is evil in all of us.”
The jaw dropping performance left the theater stunned for a few moments before a roar of applause congratulated St. Clair for a magnificent show. Some viewers could be seen openly crying at the show…even I teared up at McGowan’s final message before the cut to black. It’s the kind of thing that gives goosebumps on your arms. It’s difficult to put their performance of A Dark Road into a proper perspective, but the show was the talk of the competition amongst other schools, parents and friends who attended the event, and even this reporter after everything was said and done.
Waseca would place second while St. Clair took first place for the third straight year and its fourth straight advancement to Sections. Gottberg congratulated his troupe once more for “rising to the occasion” and that the victory proved that “hard work pays off.”
As they unwinded from the high intensity of their performance, I sat down with a few of the key players of One Act for their thoughts on how the production went. Froehlich admitted performing at his first ever competition was “a bit nerve wracking”, but his natural ability as a performer helped him in his only season in One Act. Miller’s character in “A Dark Road” is a stark departure to who the senior really is, so it took her relying on “being as over-the-top wicked or as wretched as I can be” to help make the show that much better. McGowan was the backbone of an incredible performance by the One Act team; it’s her fourth year in One Act and her closing monologue as Greta has been her favorite so far. She especially enjoyed the attention to detail for the history of the era when it came to the production, “We knew how dark this production was going to be, so it was important for us to show that part of history as clearly as we could. This may be a controversial show, but we can’t forget to share the bad side of history as much as the good.”
There’s an old saying that a team is only as successful as its most recent achievement, and the Cyclone’s winning performance was a resounding effort of a strong core of accomplished thespians, an ensemble of supporting cast and crew members, and a trio of directors determined to put on the best show possible. They will look to replicate their success at Sections on Saturday, February 1 and qualify for their first ever State competition. Break a leg, Cyclones!
Sections
It was a day filled with incredible performances by a number of highly touted schools, but only one could advance to the State tournament in One Act.
St. Clair appeared to be in prime position to make a splash at the tournament with their jaw dropping performance of Dark Road at Subsections the week prior. The last few seasons of One Act have been a series of trial and error for the Cyclones as the Sections tournament is a dogfight and a true separator of the good, the great, and the superb. Juggernauts Belle Plaine and Mountain Lake have been frontrunners in the competition for many years, and St. Clair has been chasing their coat tails these past few seasons. Only the first place team would advance to the State One Act Competition, so everything had to be flawlessly executed to give St. Clair a chance to earn that top spot.
Oddly enough, Mountain Lake performed their own version of Dark Road and were the first show of the competition while St. Clair would be the last performance. Belle Plaine would go on to become the champions of the competition with a perfect score for their unbelievably whimsical and incredibly constructed performance of The Drowsy Professor. It was a humorous piece about a particular discovery the Professor had discovered although the discovery was never truly announced to a variety of groups like the Secret Service, the press, scientists, or even the professor’s wife. A large ensemble of actors all played their zany roles well and it was evident why Belle Plaine has been considered a titan of One Act for years–side note, I was in Maple River One Act during my high school years (2010 & 2011) and Belle Plaine was always the team to beat back then too.
As St. Clair prepared to take the stage, they seemed to relish being the last ones to perform and deliver a mighty sendoff for the Sections tournament. One of the Director’s Aaron Stuve, shared that the past few years of falling short to other schools has helped St. Clair improve every year, “It is frustrating to lose to schools like Belle Plaine and Mt. Lake, but were in this competition every year and we’re getting better every year. Eventually, we’re going to break through…we just have to keep working.”
Despite the long wait for them to take the stage, the actors were incredibly focused as they prepared their makeup and discussed the dimensions of the stage. Stuve acknowledged there were some nerves heading into the performance, but assured his troupe would be ready, “We all know what the stakes are today and I think that helps us keep focused and energized…once we hit the stage and the lights are on, the pressure is going to hit, and we’re going to do what we have done this season.”
As St. Clair took the stage, it didn’t take long to realize that something had gone awry during their setup. One Act teams are allowed 10 minutes to set the stage for the performances, and St. Clair’s version of Dark Road featured gallows that would be used for the play’s final act as Greta, played by McGowan, would accept her fate as a former Nazi prison guard. However, some miscommunication during the construction of the base of the gallows caused some frustration and St. Clair was unable to complete the piece before time ran out. They were able to build the stage, but could not install the steps in time.
It proved to be a fatal misstep for the Cyclones, but the actors did what they could to adapt to the situation as they punched up the intensity of their performances as McGowan, Miller, and the other prison guards were more furious and vindictive toward the prisoners. Ordaz displayed more emotion as Greta’s sister, Lise, and Froehlich showed more conviction as Daimler, a journalist who interviews Greta just before her hanging. Without the gallows, the emotional finale of Greta facing her demise seemed to fall flat for the audience.
It was a disappointing end for the St. Clair One Act as their preparation of the stage proved to be costly during the Sections tournament. Director Gottberg expressed his frustrations, but focused on the positives of what the team was able to accomplish this season, “It was a disappointing end for us, but this group did everything we asked them to do and more. There were a lot of new faces in One Act this year, and we overcame a lot of things that were against us…I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Mistakes can serve a dual purpose in life and in acting; they disrupt the routine in which many are accustomed to, but they can also remind us there are ways to improve for next time. St. Clair One Act will certainly learn from their experience at Sections and return next year with a dedicated core ready to take the stage once more.
