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Luverne High School will have the home stage advantage for Saturday’s sub-section one-act play competition.
Six schools will compete in the LHS performing arts center with the top two finishers moving on to section competition Feb. 4, in Redwood Falls.
Joining Luverne will be performers from Adrian, Edgerton, Murray County Central, Pipestone and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton.
Competition begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Luverne will perform “Ruby,” by University of Sioux Falls graduate Greta Smith, who wrote the original two-act play for a senior project in 2021.
“The heart of ‘Ruby’ can be summarized by one phrase: Color is coping,” Smith said. “It follows the story of an imaginative, yet troubled eighth-grader and her struggles to fit in at school.”
LHS junior Alex Perkins portrays Ruby on stage.
Ruby draws on her creativity as a coping mechanism and, by musing on the nature of color, she learns to summon imaginary personas of the color she’s thinking about.
When Ruby meets
Skyler (portrayed by junior Steven Woods), she unveils her world to him.
Together the two learn more about art, poetry and friendship just as Ruby’s personal world is shattered by her parents’ divorce.
Personifying color is a technique author Smith uses herself.
“This is a game I have played with myself, and it’s been an aid to me for writing poetry,” she said.
“I find color to be a comfort to me and wanted to share that idea with others.”
Other characters (and their student actors) include:
•Ruby’s mom (freshman Rebecca Hoogland)
•School secretary (sophomore Brianna Kinsinger)
•Janitor (junior Hunter Cope)
•Librarian (junior Hallie Bork)
•Science teacher (senior Parker Carbonneau)
•Green (freshman Zander Carbonneau)
•Purple (freshman Isabella Benson)
•Orange (freshman Makayla Oeschle)
•Yellow (junior Abby Boltjes)
•Gray (sophomore Hallie Pergande)
On the production crew, senior Travis Schempp handles the lights.
Adviser Joseph Stearns approached Smith about converting “Ruby” into a one-act play for his students to perform.
“I am hoping this play teaches students that the world is a colorful place — if we look hard enough to see it,” he said.
“And also that, despite our range of individual emotions, we all have a range of human experience and it is all valid — both the good and bad.”
Saturday’s one-act play competition is open to the public. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students.
The first school competes at 10:30 a.m. followed by the other five schools.
Each school has 10 minutes to set the stage and 35 minutes to complete performances. There is no time limit for clearing the stage after the performance.
Section champions are eligible to compete at MSHSL state tournament Feb. 9-10 in St. Paul.