The Lindale High School theater club performed their One Act competition play “Anna Karenina” Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 at the high school’s Performing Arts Center (PAC).
“All of the students’ worlds are really, really hard to come together and create this vision that we wanted for the show,” theater director Kari McKenzie said. “This show has a lot of chorus work in it, so honestly you only had five people with lines. Everybody else was background characters, but when you see the show and see how beautifully they create all the tension of the story without words, you see how truly talented as performers they are.”
University Interscholastic League (UIL) One Act Play competition is judged through a series of competitions that progressively get more competitive as schools advance. The final competition is of the top 6 performances in the state that takes place in Austin.
“I’m really proud of how our show turned out,” Seifert said. “With the combination of blocking, set, lights, sounds, and our acting, our production came out looking really beautiful. I thought it was fun to portray a story that was a little on the darker side and eerie.”
The Lindale cast was able to break from district competition on March 26 by placing third. They advanced to Bi-District competition, where they were unable to advance any farther.
“Advancing to Bi-District was very nice, we kind of felt like we were cursed a little bit,” McKenzie said. “We’ve had a couple years of not getting out of the district level since we are in a very competitive district when it comes to One Act play. One of the two other schools who advanced from our district are guaranteed to go to state this year.”
One Act is judged through a panel of three critic judges who have experience in live theater. They rate the performances based on their own lives and opinions of the storyline to create rankings of the plays.
“I think it’s necessary for One Act to be judged this way,” McKenzie said. “It does hurt when you feel like you had a really good show, and one or two judges don’t feel as strongly about it. And it’s hard because it’s live theater and their judging based on their personal bias. But with live theater being a style of art, it’s difficult for it to be judged in any other way.”
“Anna Karenina”, by Leo Tolstoy, is about a married woman named Anna, played by Junior Natalie Seifert, who falls in love with Count Vronsky, played by Junior Jaylon Graves, and ends up having an affair. Their love leads to a public scandal and social rejection, ultimately pushing Anna towards madness and her death.
“The play is a very emotional journey,” Wood said. “I feel like it has its ups and downs, but overall I think this play is extremely heartbreaking.”
The story also follows other characters, such as Levin, played by sophomore Ethan Barchak, and Kitty, played by senior Lilly Ledsome, whose life events seem opposite of Anna’s. For instance, their marriage happened at the same time as her affair and the birth of their first child occurred just after Anna’s death.
“I was so blessed and grateful for my role,” Ledsom said. “I related to her character in so many ways. She represented Levin’s happiness. Kitty represented typical women in that time period who valued marrying for wealth but she overcame that norm and fell in love.”
The play was chosen by director Kari McKenzie. She has been a theater director for over 25 years and taught at Lindale for _ years.
“Anna Karenina is my favorite play, and just looking at who I had that I knew would be trying out for One Act Play, I felt we had a lot of people who would be really good in some of the parts in the show,” McKenzie said. “I felt like it was a show that was really tailored to the group of students that I had this year.”
McKenzie usually does not direct the same show more than once, but she has directed “Anna Karenina” multiple times.
“This show is one that I have directed before,” McKenzie said. “The script itself is amazing and can be cut multiple different ways to tell multiple people’s different stories, but the life that she lived was so fascinating through the context of the script. It’s honestly my favorite.”
The performance has 4 seniors, Chryslin Toliver, Isadora de Andrade Pazinani Kougnen, Lilly Ledsome, and Kathryn Peshke. This was the last performance they would have participated in for LHS.
“I was very happy with this being my last show,” Ledsom said. “It was so interesting and had so many strong dramatic themes. I’m so grateful for the theater experience I had. The theater really is my family.”
Junior Natalie Seifert was casted as the lead female role Anna.
“I feel truly honored that I was given the opportunity of playing and telling the story of Anna Karenina,” Seifert said. “Of course, it was pretty tough getting my characterization where exactly I wanted it to be in order to portray Anna’s spiral into insanity, but I really enjoyed the journey and being able to challenge myself.
Seifert has participated in live theater since 7th grade and has always been an actress.
“Theater and acting is one of my greatest passions,” Seifert said. “I love being on the stage and getting to tell the stories of people, whether they be the complete and total opposite of myself or if I can find parts of myself in them.”
Junior Jaylon Graves was casted as the male protagonist Count Vronsky.
“Even though Vronsky is a more negative character, I have really enjoyed getting to play him and bringing out emotions that I haven’t gotten to tap into until this point. He is very complex, yet simple and he has given me a new perspective into how actions can really take a toll on mental health.”
Graves has participated in live theater since 8th grade, and plans to continue as an actor.
“I think theatre is an amazing art that gives individuals a chance to tell stories in their own way by bringing out their own emotions into something else,” Graves said. “I love being an actor and being able to captivate an audience with a story. I believe acting to be a very liberating profession.”
Junior Jackson Wood was casted to play the antagonist of the story, Karenina, Anna’s first husband.
“I don’t like Karenina because he feels cruel and out of place for me, but that’s part of acting, you play someone who isn’t you,” Wood said. “It was a hard process but I got there and I’m proud of myself for doing it.”
Wood has been participating in live theater for almost 4 years as an actor.
“I love being an actor,” Wood said. “Theater has given me a purpose and something to enjoy in life. Getting to entertain other people is just amazing and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
