The Mount Pleasant High School Theatre department competed in the Zone 2 UIL One Act play competition on Tuesday, March 10 at Tyler High School. For the first time in over 30 years, the cast and crew placed 3rd and advanced to the district round of competition.

In addition to their placement as a group, five members of the cast and crew earned individual accolades. Seniors Sunni Anderson and Jose Jimenez were named to the All-Star Cast. Senior Zaid Perez and sophomore Kaytlynn Simms were named Honorable Mention All-Star Cast. Junior Lenayha Edney received the All-Star Tech award. And the entire Crew including Edney on lights, Gavin Hays on sound, and Stage Manager Hannah Carr received the All-Star Crew award, a first for MPHS.
MPHS Theatre competed with their production of Dark Road by Laura Lundgren Smith. Set in Germany in 1946, the play follows Greta, a young girl living in Nazi Germany, who reads that the nearby women’s concentration camp is hiring guards and she sees it as a chance to find her place in the world and provide for her sister Lise. But soon she learns the reality of her duties, and how to justify her crimes, heading further and further down the dark road laid by the Third Reich. Kind-hearted Lise is shocked at what her sister becomes, and though the two drift apart, their fates remain inextricably and dangerously linked.
The cast featured Caitlyn “Sunni” Anderson as Greta, Jose Jimenez as Daimler, Emelia “Emmy” Etheridge and The Guard, Kaytlynn Sims as Lise, Zaid Perez as Commandant, Isabella “Isa” Flores as Marga, Ella Rosewell as Ingrid, Maniyah Edney as Person 1/Prisoner 1/Woman 1, Alexandra “Lexa” Lytle as Person 2/Prisoner 2/ Woman 2, Jade Perez as Person 3/Prisoner 3/ Woman 3, Peyton Robinson as Person 4/Doctor, Raymundo “Ray” Rangel as Person 5/Observer, Allison Mendoza as Girl/Prisoner 4/Crowd, Addison McQueen as Prisoner 5/Woman 4/Crowd, and Conner Means and Tristan Trejo as Crowd. The Crew included Hannah Carr, Lenayah Edney, and Gavin Hayes, and alternates were Wyatt Adkins and Charity Prater.

The cast and crew will compete in the UIL District 15-5A round on Tuesday, March 17 at Hallsville High School with MPHS performing at 11:00 a.m. They will have public performances on Thursday, March 26 and Friday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m., and on Saturday, March 28 at 1:00 p.m. in the MPHS Auditorium. The MPHS One Act play was directed by Crystal Francis with Technical Director Crystalla Anderson.