Anxiously awaiting the anticipated moment of performing Scapino in front of UIL judges, the One Act Play competition allowed theatre students to prepare and perform plays in hopes of advancing and continuing their journey.

On Friday, March  21, the UIL theatre company performed Scapino, a high-energy and humorous French farce, at Lone Star Tomball’s auditorium. Not only did the strict rules of UIL and time-crunch on preparation challenge this year’s UIL company, but a “reversal-role” cast provided a different test in skill and confidence for the actors.

“Playing a woman has been an interesting experience because it adds a challenge I have never dealt with before,” Alec Ryan said. “I’ve always wanted to play a woman to test my acting and interpretation skill.”

Different from a typical show, Scapino consists of an over-the-top storyline, while switching gender roles created an unparalleled challenge for all company members. Due to the confusion made with the gender-swap cast, all actors were addressed to as the gender of their character during rehearsals.

“The rehearsal process was very different than anything we’ve ever done before because there were so many new, challenging layers,” Kylee Ward said. “There were a lot of new aspects to blend together, including sound effects and wigs, which create an exciting experience.”

Enhancing the comedic atmosphere in the play were numerous sound affects and scene changes generated by the wait staff in the back drop of the set. These sound effects coincided and supported the named characters slap-stick blocking and acting.

“Having been Props Head before, this experience has been especially different because I had to choose specific instruments for comedic sound effects,” Julie Mulkey said. “It has been a huge responsibility to bring together and organize all the props before each show.”

Because of the various types of theatre that are able to be performed, the unique style of Scapino is different from any previous play performed at Klein Oak. UIL provides the opportunity for students to share their works with other schools as well as grow as artists.

“Well, playing a man has been especially hard in interpreting the normal body of the character and challenging because I have never done it before,” Carson Robinson said. “Scapino has been a good experience and has allowed the company and me to become well rounded artists.”