Theater prepares for the production of their next play, The Marriage of Bette and Boo for the UIL one act play competition.  

The first level of competition begins on March 1st where they can progress as far as state in May. Director Cody Ritchey chose the play for its larger cast. 

“Right now, we are really lucky that we have a lot of strong actors, so we try to find shows that have several characters,” Ritchey said. “That way I can give more people chances to act.” 

As for the play itself, it is an autobiographical dark comedy of the author’s life. 

“It’s about a woman and a man’s marriage up to when their marriage disintegrates and how it affects their son,” Ritchey said.

“It makes me sad, but I think it’s really interesting,” said lead actress Kaelynn Guerrero, who plays the role of Bette. 

Kaelynn had decided to audition for the play.

“Doing UIL is pretty big, and me going for a lead is pretty important,” Kaelynn said. “I thought it would be pretty fun.” 

Auditions were held throughout the first week of December, and all the roles but one, Boo, the husband, have been cast. 

“We have some returning [actors] and we’ve had a lot of new recruits this year,” said Ritchey. 

Guerrero as Bette, the to-be-decided Boo, and Zachary Vasquez will make up the lead roles in the 10-person cast. 

Rehearsals will begin in January, giving the company about two months to prepare for the competition, where they plan to make it as far as possible.