One Act play troupe is taking new performance seriously

WAUSA — Brad Hoesing knows a little something about winning since he and his wife Sheila have led the Wausa High School one-act play team.

Since 1996, the Vikings have collected 11 state titles and are coming off 2019’s Class C1 runner-up finish, so it may not be too long before the team is back at the throne.

They will seek the title while remaining as Class C1 team.

The Hoesings are bringing the play “Hold On,” which is written by Sheila, as per the program’s tradition of usually having her write the Vikings’ productions.

“Sheila writes plays based on the people she has,” Brad Hoesing said. “We have a great group of young people that can handle a serious production such as this. Our community will be blown away by the range that these kids have emotionally as they watch the performance.

“We have an extremely talented group: Probably one of the most talented groups that we have ever had in our 15 years here. We are extremely excited to see what they can do. They are extremely dedicated, and as I said before, have an extremely mature range of emotion for kids their age, we are super pumped about this year.”

Even though they are dealing with a pandemic, Wausa won’t let that deter it and its goals.

“With Coronavirus, this is going to be an extremely interesting season,” Brad Hoesing said. “That being said, we expect our kids to perform their best, make their communities proud, and once again compete well, at both the district as well as state level.

“Our kids have done really well wearing masks on stage and in practice. We are doing our best to keep them safe, so they not only can compete for us, but also compete in Basketball, FBLA, and everything else that they do in our school.”

Tyler Baue, a junior Viking, is feeling optimistic about a new year especially with a legacy of excellence behind him.

“We have a hard-working group and it’s really cool how everyone is coming together,” Baue said. “I think everyone is going to enjoy (the play).”

The group started working in late summer and “worked around” the pandemic due to it being a “huge change,” according to Baue, and things appear to have worked out well.

“Our first practice, we were told that we had to wear masks on the stage and if you were working the floor, you had to wear them,” Baue said. “We take them off every once in a while, to check facial expressions, but people are being careful inside and outside of school.

“A lot of us have stayed safe and healthy and, hopefully, all the other schools are, too. We have overall done really well.”

Baue likes this year’s play because it’s a bit different than what he is used to.

“This year, we have taken it more to a reality standpoint with kids trying to overcome their problems. It’s diving into real emotions and trying to connect with the audience.

“We have a real diverse group and that helps us find something special about each other.”

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