KIMBALL -- Kimball’s One Act group performed in several competitions over the past few weeks.

One Act began by competing in Scottsbluff on Nov. 23. From there, the group traveled to Imperial for the SPVA competition on Nov. 25 then to the WTC competition on Nov. 26, ending with Districts on Dec. 4. 

Kimball placed sixth at the SPVA, WTC and Districts competitions, while having several students win individual awards. 

At the SPVA competition, five students received “outstanding actor” awards: Conrad Kaminski, Amber Childers, Patrick Howard, Cameron McGinnis, and Skyla Steirwalt. 

McGinnis and Howard also placed in the top 10 performances. 

At the WTC competition, Cameron McGinnis, Conrad Kaminski, Skyla Steirwalt, and Eddie Duran won “outstanding actor” awards. 

One Act Director Matthew Shoup said: “The dedication of these students has been fantastic. Today [in Districts] was the best performance they’ve ever given; they embody their characters so much more every time they do it, and it’s really neat to see. We've grown so much this last year.” 

The group performed a comedic 15–30-minute play in each competition. The judges rank the plays according to the performance, technical setup, casting, ensemble, lighting, sound, etc. 

Shoup said competing has been tough since this is only the second year that he and Mr. Jeffris have been running the group. It’s been a process of finding the right formula of what works well and what doesn’t, and they have learned a lot along the way to take into next year. 

"We’ve done comedies the last two years and I think we’ve found out that those — no matter how good they may be — are overshadowed by these big dramas,” Shoup said. “We can do a funny play if we do it well, and we do well up against other comedies, but if we go against drama, you get your butt kicked, so we’re going to do drama next year.” 

Although the group placed sixth in the Districts competition, Shoup was confident in their performance and felt it was their best one. 

“It was the best feedback we’ve gotten in everything we’ve done so far, and we competed against some outstanding schools and plays,” Shoup said. “Next year will be ‘our year;’ we will get in that genre that judges seem to like, and I think we’ll do pretty good.”