The Platteview One Act just finished up the 2024-2024 season in York on December 6th, with the play You’ll Never Guess What Happened at the Whistle Creek Festival by Dr Michael Kersulov, the One Act director. There were thirty-four members in the cast and crew. This year they had four local performances, plus a performance for the middle school and high school.
One Act is a traveling show, competing at both Conference and Districts. After traveling to Beatrice High School for Conference, Kate Martin (12), playing Evelyn, commented, “I was awarded the conference best actress, which I was shocked and extremely thankful for.”
The Trojan cast and crew are also learning very valuable skills and lessons throughout the season. Maren Ferguson (11) described, “Participating in One Act has taught me to be part of a team that has a really close knit community.” The One Act team works hard during each practice to keep improving and cleaning scenes up.
Each season, the One Act cast and crew make new memories at each practice. Caylee Roegge (10) said, “I enjoy the experiences I have with friends and all the chances to perform something we’ve worked so hard on.” Cast and crew members enjoy a lot of the bonding time they have together. They play a variety of fun games before practice and enjoy their time.
Dr. Kersulov wrote the play over the summer of 2024, hoping to capture the liveliness and zany antics that can occur during a small town festival. In the play, the town of Whistle Creek is ready to put on their annual festival, but they are desperately looking for someone to take charge and make decisions. While they can’t convince Granny Mae (played by Ada Heneger) to take the reins, her granddaughter, Evelyn (played by Kate Martin), (who has just arrived in town) takes a chance with her jovial cousin, Jack (played by Cole Anderson), calling on the townspeople to play some games for a grand prize. Little do they know, a pair of sibling con artists (played by Maren Ferguson and Marlee Ferguson) decide to rob the festival, one of them even pretending to be the famous movie star Rudolph Valentine. Chaos, deception, and a bit of love at first sight ensue as the festival approaches, leaving every townsperson rearing to retell the fantastic tale of You’ll Never Guess What Happened at the Whistle Creek Festival.
Dr. Kersulov explained his vision for the play:
“You’ll Never Guess What Happened at the Whistle Creek Festival started while I was talking with a few students after class about a hypothetical play in which a grandmother is working through her anger issues. I don’t quite remember how we arrived at that topic, but we started suggesting reasons why she was so angry. Within two hours, we had covered all the white boards in my classroom with various plots, characters, conflicts, reversals from a drama to comedy, and some fairly impossible ideas. It was chaos. But then it started to take form, and I was inspired to write the play, not about a grandmother, or a granddaughter, or a playful cousin, or two con artists, or even Sally Jenkins (who never actually appears in the play). Instead, it became a play about a small town overcoming a fanfare of struggles.
“During the summer of 2024, I tackled writing the play, and I was very pleased that it’s first table reading was with Mr. Aaron Boyle and Ms. Addison Muhlbach, two former PHS teachers that co-directed One Acts with me in the past. After that first table reading, we knew we had something special. When practices started in early September, that is when the play truly came alive. The students co-created the characters, changing their backgrounds and breathing life into their motivations and unique voices. Elements of humor I never dreamed of started taking shape as students gave suggestions, and several juniors and seniors took on new roles as student co-directors. As a result, I would like to thank our student co-directors for their inspiration and creativity: Ada Heneger, Marlee Ferguson, Maren Ferguson, Erin Musch, and Kate Martin. Their work on and off stage has been immeasurable and a gift to all of us in this production.
“The townspeople of Whistle Creek have a common goal: to put on a great festival, not for individual gains (well, perhaps Chadwick has her own motives in mind), but because a successful town festival is a win for all of the people of the town. This is a town that recognizes the achievements of tradition (asking Granny Mae to be involved once again), welcomes newcomers (giving Evelyn a chance to find her home), protects one another from danger (Danny at the end of the play), lifts each other up when it seems we can’t go on (Jack and Mr. Valentine – okay, that one may be a stretch, but I’m on a roll here), showcases one anothers’ talents, and celebrates one another. In the same vein, I have seen the students do something quite similar. Overcoming obstacles. Finding solutions. Deepening their passion for theatre. Together. (I know I used those last few lines in previous years’ programs, but it stands true). And while the end of our play might be unbelievable to some, from the beginning I could guess what Platteview would do with this script: they made magic – even without Sally Jenkins.”
Even though the season just came to a close, Platteview’s One Act-ers cannot wait for next season. Each play, each performance, each practice contains moments and memories that each student will cherish for years to come.
