All School Play Preview
By Kaylea Kult 

Many may think of Yutan as a ‘hick’ town.  Look across the street from the high school and all that can be seen is a cornfield.   

‘Hick’ takes on a whole new meaning in this years all-school play.   

The play, The Cow Tippers, features a sophisticated Mrs. Brown, (Cheyenne Nelson) who has traveled the world and now has a goal to receive her Ph.D.  In order to achieve this she finds herself in the small town of Hoke’s Bluff for a one-year study of rural school life.  

Brown quickly realizes that she is in for more than she bargained for.  The students aren’t exactly the type she planned on encountering.  There’s Jackson (Josh Shcmidt), who spends an unusual amount of time outside the school building and Skinny (Jordan Zauha), who has a knack for writing an excessive amount of poetry, along with many other interesting people. 

As the story unfolds, relationships build and Brown not only teaches her students a few lessons but learns a few of her own.  Romance enters when Clyde the school janitor (Justin Wagner) shows interest in Brown.  The story makes for a comedy not soon forgotten. 

Carey Starns directs the play.  Starns, along with Ginger Eikmeier, co-directed the state-qualifying one-act play.  Starns runs solo with all school. 

“It’s nice to have Eikmeier with the one-act,” Starns said, “but I like it by myself, too.” 

There may be one less director, but now more students need to be directed. 

“There are a lot of main people,” Starns said. 

The play features 18 cast members, more than last year’s all school and the one act this year. 

“For competition I like smaller casts,” said Wagner, who said he has no problem with the bigger cast for the all school. 

“As long as everyone is engaged it’s good,” he said.  “It’s fun.” 

The all school is fun for the cast members, but it can be stressful when trying to overlap it with the musical. 

“All school started during the stressful week of musical,” Nelson said.  The ‘stressful week’ means the week before performance when many hours of jam-packed rehearsals are necessary. 

“Luckily, we didn’t have to go through it long,” she said. 

Wagner admits that it was difficult to keep lines and characters straight, especially with speech, too. 

Now the musical and speech have successfully passed and the cast can focus on this play.  The showings are on April 17 and 18.  Starns said they will begin having practices three times a week to prepare.