With spot-on accents and outstanding acting, The 39 Steps advanced from Area taking first place being ranked first by all 3 judges this past Saturday at Smithson Valley High School. They were up against 5 other high schools in an all-day competition with only 3 schools advancing to area in the end.

“A lot of people talked about how they thought overall it was a sloppy run,” sophomore Evan Hays said. “We did have some issues and fortunately it was good enough for the judges because we got first place. We need some fine tuning but I think we’re in a very good place and this show has an immense amount of potential.”

With all good shows, there are mistakes. One of the actors felt they did good as a cast, but had a few small mishaps on stage during the performance.

“All we need is to get more focused because that’s what it comes down to,” sophomore Cullan Payne said. “On Saturday we were not as focused and mentally ready as we could’ve been and that contributed to the sloppiness. We need to start now in envisioning what we need to do and running through that in our heads to make sure we have it down.”

The cast and crew will be competing again Friday, April 24 at Smithson Valley high school. They will still be competing against 5 other school and this time only 2 schools will advance.