As they finally heard the news that they would be advancing to the next level of competition, the cast and crew of Peter and the Starcatcher found themselves elated and truly grateful. Despite the multitude of odds that this cast and crew faced over the last 13 days, they managed to pull through and earn a spot in the Bi-District One Act Play Competition.

“Due to us not obtaining our cutting rights, we had to change our show from ‘Of Mice and Men’ to ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’,” senior Xavier Briggs said. “The switch was very 180, but we accomplished it, I think.”

Putting a show together to compete with proves to be no easy challenge. There are a ton of technical issues that present themselves, with each of the actors tasked with memorizing their lines, blocking and cues.

Between all of the memorization, schoolwork and some students even working jobs, the UIL One Act Play Competition proves to be a rigorous process, especially with only 13 days to prepare.

“I’ve stayed updated on my schoolwork by mostly just relying on communication,” senior Justin Gentry said. “I always make sure that I communicate with my teachers and my coaches.”

Originally, Texas High Theatre intended to perform the show Of Mice and Men for their contest, but unfortunately they were unable to obtain the rights needed to perform their cutting of the show. 

After long nights of consideration and self-reflection, the Tiger Theatre Company made the choice to compete in a new show, Peter and The Starcatcher.

“Our expectations at first were that we had to shift our focus from advancing very far to really just having fun and making memories,” Briggs said. “But, I guess the outcome did sway in our favor, and we have been going pretty far and getting some really good awards.”

Although the small time frame to prepare for the new show proved to be no easy task, the students and directors pulled through and made the best of the situation they were in.

“Changing the show so soon was very stressful,” Gentry said. “It definitely took a toll on us because we knew that people had two months to prepare a show, but we only had ten days.” 

At the first level of competition, Zone, the cast and crew did not know what to expect of the day. Although they wanted to see their show succeed and advance, they were uneasy about the small rehearsal time in comparison to the other schools competing.

“We knew going in that we might not have the strongest show,” Gentry said. “We also knew that ours wasn’t as developed as everyone else’s.”

To their surprise, not only did their show advance to the District Competition, but they also earned six individual awards, including senior Justin Gentry who earned the title of Best Performer at the competition.

“When it happened, I was genuinely just so shocked,” Gentry said. “It was literally in the top three best moments of my life, and it kind of validated a lot of my feelings about how I acted and all that stuff.”

Although they were truly joyful to earn a spot in the District competition, the cast and crew knew that they couldn’t let this excitement distract them from their task at hand; advancing to the next competition, Bi-District.

The turnover from Zone to District proved to be super short, giving the team of students only three days to make changes  to their show. 

“The turnover was a super quick two days,” Briggs said. “We went over judge’s notes and cleaned some minor things on our show, then turned around and did it all again two days later.”

On the day of District, the students anxiously prepared for the day to come. Hotel rooms filled with energy drinks, vocal steamers and scripts as the students made their way to Hallsville High School for the competition.

Throughout the day of the competition, six different high schools competed, hoping for a spot in the Bi-District Competition, but only three of those schools could advance.

“To be honest, given that schools had two months to develop their show and we only had two weeks, we were like we may not advance and that’s okay,” Gentry said. “The director’s just wanted to give us a show, and we agreed that we were gonna put our all into it.”

At the awards ceremony, the Tiger Theatre Company earned the 3rd spot in the Bi-District competition, along with several individual awards. During this competition, senior Xavier Briggs earned the title of Best Performer for his performance in the role of Black Stache.

“Winning Best Performer for the second year in a row was such a great feeling,” Briggs said. “It felt kinda like a full circle moment to be back on that stage again.”

Overall, the students and directors of Peter and the Starcatcher look forward to their Bi-District competition on April 4 as they anticipate what’s to come.

“It feels amazing to go on that stage and perform our show once more,” Briggs said. “It’s cool to perform for a new group of people to see what we have been able to accomplish during the little time that we had.”