The cast and crew competed in Georgia High School Association’s One-Act Competition on Saturday, Oct. 22 in Hamilton, Ga. The McIntosh Drama Department competes in this one-act competition annually, and this year, they competed in a new region against Harris County High School, Northgate and Northside.

McIntosh performed an original show that was written by the director, cast and crew in August and September. The name of the performance was changed multiple times throughout the writing process, so the name given for the competition was “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Losing the Regional One Act Competition.” The final show name was confirmed after competition information was submitted, so the final show title officially became “Refuse to Lose: Losers Edition.”

Getting to Hamilton required the help of another fine arts group. While the ensemble took a school bus to get there, their sets and props required an equipment bus – used by the McIntosh Band for their marching band competitions.

“We had a bunch of costumes, props and very heavy sets. We were moving a lot of things. It took us around twenty to thirty minutes to make sure everything was loaded, from the huge outfield wall, to Sweeney Todd’s razor,” Arias-Bush said.

The cast and crew met in the school parking lot Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. to begin loading the bus with set pieces.

“I [ran] to the store and grabbed snacks before we all had to be at school. Once I got there, around 7:20, the buses were already in the parking lot. I went inside and I was the second one there. Everyone started filing in, and once a majority of people were there we went right ahead to loading things into the equipment bus,” Arias-Bush said.

The cast and crew finished loading the bus up with their things and got onto the bus that was driving them to the competition site. The bus was heated and the ride was a little over 90 minutes long.

“The bus ride to comp wasn’t too eventful, loading our sets and stuff also wasn’t too much of a struggle. However, my earbuds kept dying so that made it a bit boring,” junior Brady Dunn said.

After arriving at the competition, the cast and crew got off their bus and began to unload the equipment bus. They put all their set pieces and things outside the loading dock on sidewalks until it was their time slot to perform. McIntosh was the fourth and last school to perform their show so when they arrived, they were able to watch the first and second shows; Harris County High School’s “Peter and the Starcatcher” and Northside’s “Sing Down the Moon.” However, they weren’t able to watch the third show, which was Northgate’s “Alice in Wonderland.”

“I liked the first two shows. The first one was like a prequel to the Peter Pan story, I was amazed by their sets. The second one was like a four-part fairytale show that took place in some sort of country setting,” Dunn said.

After the second show had finished their performance, there was a lunch break for everyone at the competition. McIntosh had sandwich platters, chips, cookies and some drink options. Following lunch was the third show but the MHS students weren’t able to see it because that was their preparation time. They use this time to get into costume, finish their hair and make up and make sure all their things are ready for load-in.

“Getting ready and everything was really nerve-wracking, but it was all worth it each time we heard the audience’s reactions,” sophomore Abigail Greenstein said.

After the third show had finished their performance there was a 15-minute time period that was used to walk the stage and make sure the spacing and blocking of everything would go well during the performance.

“During the first show my heart was pounding out of my chest, I was so nervous to be on stage. Leading up to our performance I calmed down, and took deep breaths, trying to get a hold of my nerves, and by the time my part came it went great,” senior Bradley Van Hall said.

Since they were the last school to perform they were able to unload with less of a time crunch than other schools but still made quick work of unloading their things back onto the sidewalks and then into the equipment bus.

“After the show, I felt great and was happy with how things went [and] proud of everyone doing so well. [Also] proud that we made the audience laugh so much,” Van Hall said.

There was a bit of a wait for the awards because the judges had time to confer with one another and decide on the final scoring. Once the judges had finalized the award information, the awards started to be announced.

“Whatever placement we got, I knew I was going to be really proud of the entire group. [We] worked really hard on [the] show and I really think it came together very well,” junior Ava Thompson said.

McIntosh placed third overall and had two students named All-Star Cast. Sophomore Tyler Hooton and senior Audrey Johnson were the cast members who were awarded.

“Getting All-Star Cast was completely unexpected because I didn’t really fully know what it meant. I just remember hearing my name being called and then a ton of screaming coming from everyone else in the cast. I just sat there for a bit because I was in shock,” Hooton said.

“I had a great time and the whole day was just hanging out with my friends and doing what I love,” Thompson said.

Harris County High School performed Peter and the Starcatcher, Northgate performed Alice in Wonderland and Northside performed Sing Down the Moon.