Although it’s a sport that may not get as much attention as the boys in black or the gals on the court, Chadron High English teacher and One Act coach, Jill Paopao is excited for what her One Act team has to offer this year. The young actors and actresses debuted their 2024 One Act play this past weekend entitled “To See the Stars” by Cynthia Mercati.
According to Paopao, it’s based on a true story about immigrant women working through horrible conditions for equal rights in 1909. Paopao says she directed the play 14 years ago here in Chadron, and was pleased to see how much she’s learned after years of directing One Acts.
The cast and crew have performed their rendition of the play for Western Conference in Mitchell where they took home the runner-up title, and in Gothenburg to which Paopao says her team received positive feedback from judges. Paopao says a big obstacle in competitive performance such as One Acts, is subjectiveness and personal preference of judges. “What one judge tells us in one place, we might hear the exact opposite from another judge.”
The team will perform their play for the high school and middle school students early next week to wrap up their first quarter of studies, and then they will pack up the set and are bound for their District competition on December 4th.
Paopao wants to send a personal shoutout to Rachel Gifford, who also teaches at the high school, for assisting Paopao in directing the cast. Paopao stated, “I think we work really well together. She sometimes sees things that I don’t, and there’s things I see that she doesn’t.”
Some Chadron actors and actresses even brought home awards for outstanding performances. Averielle Sager was awarded Best Actress for both brackets in Gothenburg, along with Eliu Paopao as Best Supporting Actor. Outstanding Actors were honored and awarded to Eliu Paopao, Averielle Sager, Grey Burks, Adday Tewahade, Eliana Uhing, Marin Dickau, Wesley Margetts, and Jaelyn Brown.