Circus of Death

The Champion Theatre department is working on their show for the 2022 One Act competition season. The show is going up against countless different schools in a series of six rounds of increasing difficulty. They have already made it to the region contest, which is the round before the final state competition. The department’s ultimate goal is to make it all the way to the State Championships.
“One Act is how I can competitively show my skills as an actor and act with a group of people who are focused at making a really good show together as a unit,” said senior Mason Jackson.
The twenty students who are chosen to compete are in rehearsal preparing for the competition. They will be up against a recorded 200 plus schools across the state of Texas.
“We take everything and shove it into 40 minutes,” said director Israel Aviles. “This is the culmination of everything we’ve learned all year and our best talent, and we are really trying to shove it in a small little box, so it’s going to be really intense. Gonna be more eye popping, a lot more visually stunning, and we really focus on doing more in less time.”
Following UIL guidelines, the show must meet certain requirements to advance to the next level.
“The way it works is we’re given a certain amount of time within which to produce this show. So every school has to produce a show within 54 minutes,” said Mr. Aviles. “You have seven minutes just to set up, 40 minutes within which to perform your play, and then seven minutes to tear it down.”
Actors in this show dedicated time and focus to make this show a success, spending almost four months of rehearsal time.
“It’s not your regular run of the mill show,” said sophomore Raya Nunez. “You have to commit one hundred percent to it — which is exhausting, but I think it makes it the most rewarding show out of the year.”

These actors have already advanced past the third round of competition and are headed towards their final goal of being state champions.
“After making it past this third round of competition we are all very excited and nervous to work on our show and make magic happen,” said junior Jackson Bachicha.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Chris Ordaz

Champion Theatre's One Act actors rehearsing for their upcoming competition.