This year’s one act play, ‘Picnic’, has advanced to the statewide UIL competition held at Bass Concert Hall in Austin. This is the fourth time our school has ever gone to State. Picnic was one of the two plays to advance past the region competition, and placed first overall for the fourth consecutive time.

“It’s very exciting to [be going to state],” junior Amanda Castillo said. “I know how hard we’ve worked and to see other people recognize that feels really great and like nice validation for all of that work.”

Several members of both cast and crew won individual awards for the competition. Junior Cullan Payne was placed on all-star cast, while junior Matthew Kennedy was awarded a place on the honorable-mention cast. Senior Lynley Eilers was also placed on honorable mention. Senior Tristen Banuelos was awarded a place on the all-star technical crew for his work backstage as special light technician.

“Getting all star cast makes me feel like all the hard work is paying off,” Payne said. “We’ve been working towards this since middle school, and now it’s coming together. It’s a very accomplishing and humbling experience.”

Picnic was one of the six total plays to be performed at competition. Out of those, only Picnic and Tuloso Midway High School’s Caucasian Chalk Circle will be going to the state competition. The play that placed third, Donna High School’s Lydia, is an alternate to go if either school that has advanced cannot attend.

“[Advancing to state] makes me feel really prepared for the next [competition] to come,” junior Evan Hays said. “Compared to other shows we have a very small cast, so we’re all very tight knit and there’s a lot of comradery. As cliche as it is, we are all a big family.”

The state competition will be held at Bass Concert Hall in Austin, on May 24. Picnic will perform fourth in the first session of competition, which starts at 4pm. The second session of competition will start at 7:30pm that same day.

“I am overjoyed to have finally made it to state,” senior Emilee Earthman said. “This is a fantastically talented group of people, with an amazing director and a tight group of friends.”