BY RACHEL WINDLER
One Act Play: it's a UIL event of interesting implications. This year's theater troupe entry is The Good Counselor. Junior Gebrai Spiller, sophomore Alanna Ransom, freshman Howard Killg, senior Deija Wilkes, junior Tina Nguyen, and senior Angel Carrion are putting all their energy and vigor into making this play something amazing -- and it shows.
The play begins with Rita Heffernon (Wilkes) getting out of bed to the sound of a radio. After admonishing her two sons, Vincent and Ray (Spiller and Killg) for eating in the living room, Rita and Vincent head to church, leave Ray behind and lock him out of the house after arguing with him about attending the service.
Cut to Vincent, a lawyer of the state, talking to his client, Evelyn (Ransom) who is accused of murdering her infant and leaving his body in a bean field next to her home. She is uncooperative, only offering "I didn't kill my son!" and is escorted out by the prison guard (Carrion), screaming at Vincent to "do your job and get me out of here!"
Soon after, Ray, Vincent's brother, is shown stealing from their mother and pushing her to the ground as he runs away, wallet in hand. Vincent walks in the door soon after and is flustered - to say the least - at hearing what happened. He admonishes his mother for telling Vincent she was going to call the police because he knows that it would set him off more. Vincent's mother then challenges him when he begins to say that perhaps she should have spent more time with them when they were younger. Rita then claims that she has given enough to Vincent and is "tired of being scared to open the door to my own son," and throws him out of her care. The entire scene is tinged with stress, only adding to the weight on Vincent's back.
The next time Vincent visits Evelyn, he makes a breakthrough. By acting out a court scene with Evelyn as himself and Vincent as Evelyn, he finally has her understand exactly what she's up against and gets the whole story. Sobbing, Evelyn collapses to the floor and tells the truth. Evelyn, her daughter, and the baby all slept in one bed. The night the baby died, he was asleep between his sister and mother. Evelyn, upon waking in the middle of the night, felt something cold and hard under her. She had rolled over onto her baby in her sleep. Scared, heart-broken, Evelyn tried to cover it up, knowing that everything - from her economic standing to her appearance to the public's opinion of her - is stacked against her, by trying to hide his body in a bean field next to her home. Vincent does his best to comfort her before the guard guides her out again.
Finally, in court, Evelyn explains what happened to the jury, which, by the way she faces, is implied to be the audience, followed by a plea from Vincent to make your own judgment.
With such a moving play, full of convincing characters with whipping emotions that gives you cause to become truly involved in watching, I see no reason why Wagner's talented actors wouldn't simply move the UIL judges to tears with their stunning performance.
I'd say good luck, but wouldn't that be a little counterproductive?
One Act Play: it's a UIL event of interesting implications. This year's theater troupe entry is The Good Counselor. Junior Gebrai Spiller, sophomore Alanna Ransom, freshman Howard Killg, senior Deija Wilkes, junior Tina Nguyen, and senior Angel Carrion are putting all their energy and vigor into making this play something amazing -- and it shows.
The play begins with Rita Heffernon (Wilkes) getting out of bed to the sound of a radio. After admonishing her two sons, Vincent and Ray (Spiller and Killg) for eating in the living room, Rita and Vincent head to church, leave Ray behind and lock him out of the house after arguing with him about attending the service.
Cut to Vincent, a lawyer of the state, talking to his client, Evelyn (Ransom) who is accused of murdering her infant and leaving his body in a bean field next to her home. She is uncooperative, only offering "I didn't kill my son!" and is escorted out by the prison guard (Carrion), screaming at Vincent to "do your job and get me out of here!"
Soon after, Ray, Vincent's brother, is shown stealing from their mother and pushing her to the ground as he runs away, wallet in hand. Vincent walks in the door soon after and is flustered - to say the least - at hearing what happened. He admonishes his mother for telling Vincent she was going to call the police because he knows that it would set him off more. Vincent's mother then challenges him when he begins to say that perhaps she should have spent more time with them when they were younger. Rita then claims that she has given enough to Vincent and is "tired of being scared to open the door to my own son," and throws him out of her care. The entire scene is tinged with stress, only adding to the weight on Vincent's back.
The next time Vincent visits Evelyn, he makes a breakthrough. By acting out a court scene with Evelyn as himself and Vincent as Evelyn, he finally has her understand exactly what she's up against and gets the whole story. Sobbing, Evelyn collapses to the floor and tells the truth. Evelyn, her daughter, and the baby all slept in one bed. The night the baby died, he was asleep between his sister and mother. Evelyn, upon waking in the middle of the night, felt something cold and hard under her. She had rolled over onto her baby in her sleep. Scared, heart-broken, Evelyn tried to cover it up, knowing that everything - from her economic standing to her appearance to the public's opinion of her - is stacked against her, by trying to hide his body in a bean field next to her home. Vincent does his best to comfort her before the guard guides her out again.
Finally, in court, Evelyn explains what happened to the jury, which, by the way she faces, is implied to be the audience, followed by a plea from Vincent to make your own judgment.
With such a moving play, full of convincing characters with whipping emotions that gives you cause to become truly involved in watching, I see no reason why Wagner's talented actors wouldn't simply move the UIL judges to tears with their stunning performance.
I'd say good luck, but wouldn't that be a little counterproductive?