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One for the history books
When Rice CHS English teacher Michelle Schendel took over the role of drama director for the school’s theater program, little did she know that she’d be guiding a group of talented Raider’s to their first ever UIL One Act Play State appearance in school history.
The stars seemed to align perfectly for Schendel two years ago when she was asked to fill the position, taking the opportunity by its reins and never looking back. Coming from a vast theater background herself having worked in New York for some time, she knew the demands that would come for taking on the position but found that with the kids finally out of the house, the time was now to go all in.
Her first year at the helm of the program saw a bit of a learning curve, with the group not even advancing out of their zone, which she says she takes responsibility for. Fast forward to this year, and Schendel’s unique approach has seen a drastic turn of fortune, with luck playing no role in the deserved success of their run.
“I chose a really heavy play that wasn’t super accessible for the students, but I knew really well,” said Schendel. “Coming into this year, I knew pretty much which students I had who were really committed. Last year I read a ton of plays because I wanted to do something fresh and new. I came across the play, ‘Everything is Wonderful’ exactly a year ago, and as I read it, I could just visualize and see all of my students in it.”
Schendel says she fell in love with the script immediately but had a daunting challenge at hand with the play having never been performed before at UIL and needing to be cut down by her from three hours to 40 minutes. After meticulous edits, she sent the script over to the original playwright for approval and rights, Chelsea Mercantel, who approved it as well as UIL officials to give the script a green light.
The play delves into the lives of an Amish couple whose two sons are killed in a car accident, leading to a struggle to maintain their faith. In an act of forgiveness, they take in the driver of the car who took their sons lives’, cracking open the family’s dark history, forcing everyone into “a new kind of reckoning.”
“In a nutshell, it is about radical forgiveness,” said Schendel.
The journey from idea to inception and beyond has been well over a fivemonth journey according to Schendel, with a lively group of 16 students refining the play performance by performance, practice by practice. It all culminated in the school’s first ever appearance in a UIL One Act Play state competition, an achievement that hasn’t been without its challenges according to Schendel.
“I have a very high standard, and these students by now, working with me over the last year and a half, know what my expectation is,” said Schendel. “It was challenging at times because a lot of them had never been members of team sports, so they’ve had to learn how to work as a team. The kinds of demands that theater can have on you can be just as rigorous mentally and physically as you have to be extremely concentrated.”
Schendel knew from the moment the students did their first run of the play that she had caught lightning in a bottle with her group of kids and the play at hand and believed that the students could take it all the way, a premonition that ultimately came true.
“I said to the students, this is a special combination of people that we have working on this play that we’ll never have again,” said Schendel. “We’ve got seniors who will graduate and with this play, I believe we can take it all the way. I really meant that.”
She attributes the success of the students and the program this year to the tenacity displayed by all parties, but also gives credit to Life Skills teacher Eunice McBeth, who she says “kept her sane” throughout their journey.
“She started helping me last year and has worked tirelessly helping build sets, traveling with us and being my right hand,” said Schendel. “We could not have done all of that with just me.”
Schendel knows the competition at the state level will be unlike anything else the students have faced thus far with all the other schools competing just as highly qualified as they are. Nevertheless, she just wants her students to give it their all as they have over the past five months, and hopes the judges resonate with their performance as much as they all do.
With the UIL season coming to an end, Schendel says the group of kids making history have big ambitions after graduation, with some setting their sights on highly regarded theater programs in state and across the country.
Locals can get a chance to watch the play on Thursday, May 8, 7:20 p.m. at the Rice CISD auditorium.
