High school students from the Crossroads and Corpus Christi took to the stage at the Victoria Fine Arts Center on Friday for one last rehearsal ahead of the UIL District 30 One-Act Play competition.
More than 100 students will compete on Saturday during the event after months of hard preparation, but up until Thursday they were not sure if the show would be canceled or delayed as a result of growing concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
“We still are kind of worried, but we were especially worried yesterday when everything was basically up in the air. As of now everything is going as planned,” said Cyra Smith, a senior playing Jocasta in Victoria West High School’s production of “Oedipus the King.”
Victoria East's Valerie Escalona, 16, checks the sound during the rehearsal of the play "After Juliet" on Friday at Victoria Fine Arts Center. Veterans Memorial, Carroll, Victoria East, Calhoun, Richard King and Victoria West will compete in the UIL District 30 One-Act Play competition at noon Saturday as planned.
That news is what students wanted to hear after dedicating months to preparation.
“We’re giving it 110%,” said Nicole Rodriguez, another senior in Victoria West High School’s one-act play. “We are putting our all into this.”
Late Friday UIL decided to suspend all academic and athletic events scheduled between March 16-29, but left One-Act Play competitions scheduled before that window up to local district officials, said Julia Atkins, a spokeswoman for the state agency.
“There is a lot of attention being put on any event, any public space that has people coming together like this. Yesterday we were all on the phone all day like, are we having this?” said Randy Wachtel, Fine Arts Center building manager “Does that mean not allowing an audience in and just doing kind of like the NCA was going to do or what? At this point, we’re proceeding as normal so people can come in and watch the shows.”
Four parents pulled their children from the productions of the three Corpus Christi schools competing due to travel concerns related to the coronavirus, forcing casts and crews to adjust long-rehearsed plans last minute, said Martha Fair, Corpus Christi school district’s fine arts specialist for art and theater.
“It is understandable and people are scared. As a parent, I can totally understand that,” she said. “I spent all day yesterday emailing, calling and texting with our contest manager, my supervisor, the state trying to decide if we were going to come.”
Victoria East's Mary Cruz rehearses the play "After Juliet" on Friday at Victoria Fine Arts Center. Veterans Memorial, Carroll, Victoria East, Calhoun, Richard King and Victoria West will compete in the UIL District 30 One-Act Play competition at noon Saturday as planned.
The three schools that advance from the District 30 competition would have gone onto a go to a now cancelled bi-district competition in Corpus Christi that was scheduled for next weekend. The competition, along with all other UIL academic events, will have to be rescheduled.
Victoria East High School band members had to change plans after traveling to Walt Disney World in Florida earlier this week before the park announced its closure.
The students are at the park and plan to stay until it closes on Sunday, district spokeswoman Shawna Currie said.
As news of a confirmed case of the new Coronavirus in Yoakum made its way around the region, area schools plans’ to return to campuses on March 23, after spring break remained unchanged.
Superintendents will have a daily conference call with Commissioner of Education Mike Morath for updates on the COVID-19 situation.
Tom Kelley, Yoakum school district superintendent, said students are going to classrooms on March 23 as planned, which is also the current plan for other districts, including Victoria, Bloomington and Hallettsville.
“We don’t foresee that we will have to close school,” Kelley said. “If we feel it is considered unsafe for our staff members or our students, that’s when we will close school.”
Yoakum does not have the capabilities to do online learning, so an extended spring break or additional closures would be particularly difficult, he said.
“I know we can’t do it online,” Kelley said. “If TEA mandated us to close, we would try to get them back in school as soon as we can. Our job is to educate our students and the best way for us to do that is in school.”
District officials have been in contact with Yoakum Community Hospital, he said, and staff has been reassured that even with the confirmed positive COVID-19 case in Yoakum, the school is not in danger.
Like other districts, Yoakum is taking extra precautions to avoid the spread of COVID-19 with thorough campus cleanings and encouraging students to stay home if they feel ill, he said.
Victoria East students rehearse the play "After Juliet" on Friday at Victoria Fine Arts Center. Veterans Memorial, Carroll, Victoria East, Calhoun, Richard King and Victoria West will compete in the UIL District 30 One-Act Play competition at noon Saturday as planned.
Victoria officials are also monitoring the fluid situation.
“We will continue to monitor health department information and adapt accordingly,” Victoria superintendent Quinten Shepherd said.
Meanwhile, Kathy Montgomery, Victoria West’s fine arts director, said she has been staying calm and talking through COVID-19 concerns with her theater students as she would with any other difficult life experience.
“Kids of all ages need to get their emotions and thoughts and feelings out of their heads and the more they talk about it, the more you can help them understand things, have them relax,” she said. “The nice thing about theater is that theater lives in a world of emotions, so the majority of my kids are really good about talking about what is going on in their lives – what is concerning them, what is upsetting them.
“With everything shutting down and the coronavirus, they’re more vocal than probably a lot of kids are so you can talk to to them and discuss it.”
Education reporter Samantha Douty contributed to this report.
