On Saturday, February 11, Kent School held the first half of its annual One Acts performances. Mr. Foote notes that the One Acts are one of the most popular performances at Kent, as people get to enjoy a “great show performed and directed by Kent’s finest actors.” The One Acts are also renowned among the student body for their humor and willingness to push the boundaries of what is deemed “appropriate” for a school performance.

This year’s performances did not disappoint; in fact, Mattison Auditorium was packed with a range of students, faculty, and parents who came out to support the actors and enjoy some quality entertainment. While there were hilarious plays such as 2B or ot 2B, which featured a bee convincing the woman of his dreams to leave behind the human world to become the Queen bee of a colony, there were also more introspective and serious plays, such as The Other Room, which explored a seemingly romantic interaction between a girl and special needs boy.

Although the production went off without a hitch, there was a lot of behind the scenes work to get the plays performance-ready. At the beginning of Winter term the students narrowed a large group of plays down to six. After student directors and performers were chosen for each play, they only had a few weeks to bring their plan to life. This took a combination of hard work not only during their after-school time slot, but also during their free time.

Simon Greene ’18, one of Kent’s finest actors, said that even he had “some trouble memorizing his lines” as they often contained “complicated sentences and words.” Despite the hard work, Greene loved the One Acts as he got to “do something that he loves with people who are passionate about acting.” He also liked the different selection of plays, as he is able to display “his range of ability as an actor.”

When it came to the lighting, props, and other stage crew tasks, these responsibilities were delegated between just Leon Du ’17 and Mr. Jandreau. These two were “instrumental in the execution of the production” according to actor Bryan Chong ’17.

Students and faculty persevered and through this busy time and were able to deliver a performance that entertained and moved the Kent community, which looks forward to the second performance on February 25.