Moving on from Epic Proportions, the theatre is program is currently rehearsing for a new play they will be performing, this time at UIL competitions in March.

The production, led by theatre director Stephanie Winters, is based on two characters from one of Shakespeare’s famed pieces.

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, that’s the name of the show,” Winters said. “It is a parallel of Hamlet. In Hamlet there are two characters who come to help him feel better in Shakespeare’s play. Their just two very small characters in Shakespeare and what Tom Stoppard did is he wrote their own play. It’s kind of the way Wicked parallels the Wizard of Oz.”

Although auditions allowed different actors to be cast from the previous play, those who enjoyed Epic Proportions will be glad to see some familiar faces in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

“The group is great,” Winters said. “They’re a strong group. They range from freshmen to senior. It’s, I think, a tight group. A lot of them were in Epic Proportions, so they’ve done shows here before and I think they’re all really excited about the show.”

However, the differences in cast allow for a better overall production.

“We have a much smaller cast,” junior Tyler Cheatham said. “So Ms. Winters can work with everybody specifically on certain aspects of their character. It’ll be much more containable and easy to manage. Because we can do that, we have more time for tech and stuff like that.”

In addition to the students’ excitement, Winters is confident in the production also.

“The play is incredible,” Winters said. “It’s a difficult piece so it’s been hard but I think we’ll do well.”

What is probably most difficult is compressing an entire play into the allotted time slot to compete.

“What we do is, it’s a three act show and it runs about two and a half hours, but for competition we have to cut it down to 40 minutes. So it’s the full, all three acts but its cut down.”

In rehearsals, the students feel the production is strong.

“I think it’s going really well,” Cheatham said. ”We’re really kind of figuring out the jokes in the show and figuring out how everyone would interact with each other.”

The play should turn out to be a success with all the practice the actors will get. Even after rehearsals, and after the performance open to the public on March 14, the program gets even more opportunities to become their absolute best.

“We actually go to three different clinics in front of three different judges who will help us along the way to get better,” Winters said. “Then our first competition is on March 20th and then hopefully we’ll advance to district on the 23rd and then we’ll see what happens from there.”