The NHS production of Girls Like That will be heading to the Wisconsin High School Forensics Association One-Act Contest at UW-Stevens Point from Nov. 17 -19, actress Mady Anderson confirms.

“I’m excited cause state is a really fun place. I went with drama people last year and it was a lot of fun so I’m excited to go back.”  Anderson plays one of the many schoolgirls the script is based around.

It certainly was no easy path to get to state, however.

The production almost was too long to qualify for WHSFA standards, so director Jane Dix left it up to her own performers to select which areas of the script to omit.

“Some people’s entire monologues got cut but they just did it cause they needed to do it,” Anderson confirmed.

The cast is comprised of members of the Advanced Theater Studies class. Everyone in the class is expected to participate in the play, whether it be as a crew member or a performer.

Neenah’s stage design for the production is simple yet effective: a massive wooden model of a laptop takes center stage with various images of Tweets and simulated social media appearing on the screen throughout the play. Set design was handled mostly by the students with help from Pickard staff.

Written by Evan Placey, a Canadian-English playwright, Girls Like That was originally performed at the Unicorn Theatre in London. The Guardian gave it four stars, calling it an “honest exploration of an unsisterly generation.” The script focuses on the destructive potential of modern technology and the often vicious culture observed among high school girls. A naked photo of the main character, Scarlett, spreads around the school and the reactions of Scarett’s peers become the meat of the show. She is played by senior Emily Tang in the NHS version.

The State One-Act Contest is a part of the larger Wisconsin High School Theater Festival, which also features performances from the UW-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance and the UW-Madison Arts Institute and many theater oriented workshops. Attendance is only allowed to students and staff that register for the festival in advance.

Image courtesy of A Younger Theater.