The 2025 SDHSAA State One-Act Play Festival took place from the SDSU Performing Arts Center in Brookings this past weekend. Each year, judges give out superior ratings to the top individuals, ensembles, and overall plays. Schools aren’t competing against each other at this event, they perform with hopes of scoring a superior rating.
Lennox High School’s One Act Play, “Boxes” earned an Overall Superior rating in Class A. The accolades didn’t stop there with the team taking the Superior Tech Award (Jacob Carlson, Tyler Strasser, Chase Hazuka, Graycee Postma, Liz Hanisch, Grant Buhta, Leo Aesoph, Wyatt Cricton, Isaak Booker), two Outstanding Ensemble awards, one for the chorus (Madix Oltmanns, Duncan Johnson, Maddigan Van Sickle, Karson Iken, Emersen Lee, Carter Dose) and the Lucy and Luke Duo of Ariana Poppens and Riley Nelson. Outstanding Acting Awards went to Noah Sayler, Zander Hazoka, Mariam Welch and Isaiah Sayler.
“I was so confident in this show after our performance at Regionals but then we got hit with illness the week of state. We did not have a full cast rehearsal at any point during the week leading up to our performance and I didn’t even know if we would have everyone available until late Thursday afternoon,” said LHS One Act Play Director, Christi Sayler.
“At our Thursday morning rehearsal, I had moved a few students into different roles just in case but thankfully everyone was able to go on Friday. And on Friday, they performed so incredibly well, I can’t even begin to find the words to describe how awed and inspired I was by the new level of their performance,” Sayler continued. “When we went to the judges for critiques, they had so many positive and encouraging comments that I felt really good going into awards that we might come away with a Superior. I was not prepared for all the awards we received. It was so exciting for all of us to hear Lennox repeatedly announced in every award category. I am immensely proud of the work the students put into this show. I think it was very personal for a lot of them and they were able to really portray the emotions of the characters because they could resonate with the characters.”