, 
, 
, 
Second-year director Julie Fettes hopes this year’s one act play performance propels Luverne High School to the state contest.
“Our goal is to advance this year,” she said.
On Saturday Luverne will be one of four teams at the 3A subsection competition in Pipestone. The top two teams earn the right to perform at the Feb. 6 regionals for the chance to attend the one act play festival Feb. 11-12 at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.
Choosing the right production may be the key for Luverne to move on in the competition.
This year Fettes chose “I Hate Love,” an abstract play that replaces the comedies the group traditionally performs.
“I Hate Love,” by Maia Akiva, is 20 minutes in length and centers on a social issue (suicide) and the emotions inside the main character’s head.
Characters of Depression, Loneliness, Pain, Happiness, Faith and Love each talk to 23-year-old college student Jo as she decides whether or not to commit suicide that night.
Senior Tatiana Gust, a veteran actress in LHS plays and one act performances, plays the main character.
“These (one act) plays are the hardest because there is a lot of acting,” she said.
Gust said while larger plays emphasize how a character interacts with another to increase the emotion of the performance, the smaller one act cast members use their own characters to issue an audience response.
For this year’s one act performance, Gust’s fellow actors are supposed to be inside her head.
Fettes said she encourages the students to add their own touches to the performance. After several weeks of rehearsals, the students chose to write their own ending. They wanted Jo to choose life.
“It (suicide) is never the answer,” said senior Paul Witte III, who plays the character, Pain. “You can always change things if you work at it.”
The play choice has been a good one for the students to analyze.
Said Fettes, “These emotions will always be a part of you and you need to learn how to deal with them.”
A public performance of “I Hate Love” will be today (Jan. 28) in the Luverne High School auditorium. The performance starts at 7 p.m.