By Jeris Rathbun
One-Act’s senior Scott Bennet once again wrote this year’s one-act play production. Bennett began writing “As the Crown Fell” in early spring of 2025, with prompts given from the directors based on the skills the cast had previously showcased. This was done to provide them with more dramatic and challenging roles, allowing them not only to develop their versatility as actors but also to grow as students. Bennett was not only the writer of this year’s play, but he was also a student director and played the part of Lord Isaac.
“From the very first read-through up until our last performance, my goals for this season were purely to tell a story and give life to a script that I love dearly. Not only did I, with the help of everyone else on the team, meet this goal, but I also achieved things I had no idea were in the cards for a student-written play. In the end, I feel endless gratitude toward the people who allowed me this opportunity and toward the remarkable performers, coaches, and judges who did this story justice,” Bennet said.
This season kicked off with cast and crew auditions in late August, followed by a read-through and various team meetings with cast and crew in early September. The directors, Blair Haynes and Kailey Sandhop, both made sure there were plenty of opportunities for team bonding as well as for hard work.
“We really had our hands full this season, as this is the biggest one-act team I have been able to coach. There are 54 team members total, but it worked out, seeing as each and every individual brought their all to every meeting and competition. We’ve had a much higher work ethic this year, and it's seriously shown, as we’ve also seen more outstanding actor awards than in previous years, along with higher placements on the tech ballots, not to mention we’ve placed in the top half for each competition,” Haynes said.
On Friday, Dec. 5, they completed at districts, with it potentially being their last competition of the season. The day started at seven in the morning, and the cast and crew headed to Milford High School. At this competition, Aurora was one of eight schools competing to make it to state, as only 1st place would make the cut, allowing the 2nd-place team or the district runner-up to fill in if the winner could not make it. With stakes high, everyone put in their best effort, but unfortunately, Aurora fell short of state by three points behind Louisville. Each judge at Milford had placed Aurora at 58 points across the board, while placing Louisville at 60, 59, and 58. Meaning that Aurora had gotten district runner-up for the first time since 2022.