Rugby High School actors and actresses have been hard at work preparing for the region IV one-act play competition. They have been rehearsing since the second week in September and are ready for an audience! They will present the one-act play, “How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying,” on Tuesday, October 30th at the high school auditorium. The show starts at 7:00 p.m., and the cost is $1.00 for students and $2.00 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the door. The show lasts about 30 minutes.

This year’s cast is larger than it has been the past few years and consists of 24 students ranging not only in age, but also stage experience. There are students who have been on stage since they were young kids, as well as students who have never been on stage before. There are also some junior high students this year.

This play calls for ten student “agents” and quite a few extras. The ten “agents” have all had prior stage experience, whereas many of the extras have not. The extras took a little convincing to join the cast, but Rugby one-act director, and English instructor Shannon Miller jokingly told them they got to miss a day of school, so they were in.

The cast consists of : Tashal Trottier, Rachel Mack, Zach Miller, Aubrey Hovland, ReeAnn Christianson, Darby Deckert, Benji Miller, Kelsey Schmaltz, Jacob Berginski, Nolan Hovland, Maria Mack, Kyle Lovcik, Nigel Hageness, Tanner Bernhardt, Chris Hamilton, John Mueller, Brad Heidlebaugh, Patrick Stadum, Landen Foster, Isaiah Johnson, Kyler Odden, and Elizabeth Skjelver. Emily Pfeifer is running the lights, with help from junior high English instructor Kyle Vareberg, and Allison Leer is helping backstage. The play is written by Jonathan Rand and directed by Miller.

The play is about student agents who infiltrate a school assembly to give 8th grade students some tips and tricks on how to succeed in high school without really trying. They give advice on each subject in school, including how to pick the best classmate to be their math tutor. They even have a protest against any physical activity, and teach the eighth-graders how to get through English class without understanding what they are talking about. It’s a comedy. The cast has had a blast at practices, and would love to have an audience on Oct. 30.

Besides the public performance on the 30th, Rugby is hosting the region IV one-act competition in the newly remodeled auditorium on Nov. 1. Region IV consists of Rugby, Harvey, Starkweather, Maddock, Lakota, Langdon, and Cando. The top two finishers move on to the state one-act play competition on Nov. 19 and 20 in Jamestown.

(Submiited by RHS teacher Shannon Miller)