The Mount Pleasant High School Theatre department competed in the District 15-5A UIL One Act play competition on Wednesday, March 6 at Texas High in Texarkana. The cast and crew placed 4th, narrowly missing advancing to the bi-district round of competition, their highest placement in One Act in many years.

In addition to their alternate placement, four members of the cast and crew earned individual accolades. Junior Emma Sanders earned an All-Star Cast medal for her role as Vivian Bearing. Juniors Madison Zepeda and Roger McKay were named to the Honorable Mention All-Star Cast for their roles as Nurse Susie Monahan and Dr. Harvey Kelekian respectively. And junior Kevin Mendoza earned an All-Star Crew medal for his work on sound.

MPHS Theatre competed with their production of Wit by Margaret Edson. In the play, English professor, Vivian Bearing, discovers she has advanced ovarian cancer. She has lived her life alone, is unmarried and without children, her parents are deceased, and she has no emergency contact. Bearing later finds herself under the care of Dr. Jason Posner, an oncology research fellow, who has taken one of her classes. At the hospital, she recognizes that doctors are interested in her for her research value and, like her, tend to ignore humanity in favor of knowledge. Gradually, she realizes that she would prefer kindness to intellectualism.

The cast featured Emma Sanders as Vivian Bearing, Dawson Hernandez as Jason Posner, Madison Zepeda as Susie Monahan, Roger McKay as Dr. Harvey Kelekian/Ensemble, Peyton Robinson as E.M. Ashford/Ensemble, Gracie Martinez Mom for Patient, Allison Mendoza as Girl Patient, Summer Murillo as Older Woman Patient, and Ensemble members and understudies Sunni Anderson, Joey Dunn, Danika Beckham, Jose Jimenez, Sadera Lampard, Addie McQueen, and Makayla Mather.

The Crew included Stage Manager Sara Guerrero, Raul Torres on Booth Lighting, Enrique Marrufo-Hernandez on Stage Lighting, Sound by Kevin Mendoza, and alternate Tristian Trejo.

The MPHS One Act play was directed by MPHS Theatre Department Director, Jordan Chambers, with assistance from Crystal Francis, Crystalla Anderson, and student Director Willow Duncan.

Photo:

Members of the Mount Pleasant High School cast and crew of Wit