The most intimidating high school in LISD proved to be a challenge at first, but the OAP cast of Abe Koogler’s “Deep Blue Sound” showed up and showed out at the new Zone competition.

At Zone, hosted March 8th at Lubbock-Cooper, the “Deep Blue Sound” cast competed against Coronado, Monterey, and Lubbock-Cooper themselves. Each show performed in the main auditorium and immediately received constructive feedback from the OAP judges in Lubbock-Cooper’s blackbox.

The show itself was a spectacle to behold. As a member of the audience, and an alternate within the cast, I’m unbiased in saying that the show went phenomenally! I can recall hearing people crying at the end of the show with heavy intakes of breath in between the tears. The beautiful choreography had audience members hooked from the moment the lights came up on stage to the moment they fell.

The story was told masterfully and the directing of such a complicated show was tasked onto Mr. Kocurek-Gentry and Mr. Farrar, who most definitely rose to the occasion.

In the past, OAP has never done anything like this before. They’ve often stuck to more grounded pieces that are easier to follow while still having moments of drama that can connect with audiences and judges. This time, however, the cast and team decided to go a more Brechtian route. 

“Insert quote about Mr. K explaining what Brecht is.” said Mr. Kocurek-Gentry. “Insert yet another quote explaining the choice behind going Brecht.”

As I’ve said, the story is a lot different than others OAP has told in the past. This story is written to be interpreted. Scenes will often start at random times with lines that have no correlation with the previous scene. It’s as if Abe Koogler is stepping into the room whenever this scene happens and just writing down what he heard. 

At its core, “Deep Blue Sound” is a tear-jerking tale about an island that has lost its whales. On top of that, there is a sick woman named Ella, reflecting on how soon she will die and how she wasted her life, a news reporter named Joy Mead who is attempting to write the obituary of Ella’s life, Chris and Mary, an abusive couple that is trying to get back together, John and Homeless Gary, two men attempting to connect with each other through small exchanges, Ella’s daughter, waiting for her life to come back when her mother finally dies, and Mayor Annie, trying to remind everyone to help her look for the missing whales.

“We put our art out in the world to possibly not do well. […] We are putting our art out there in hopes that people will like it, but ALL people are different so it is never a guarantee.” said Mr. Farrar. “[The whales] create something that we can all look forward to.”

There is still so much more to be told about this story, but the competition is barely getting kicked into overdrive. We can be sure that the directors, tech crew, and actors will be putting in the hard work from now until the next competition. 

“Strong quote, maybe something about their goals in the future for the competition and an insight into the beauty of life and theater and their vision as a program at LHS.” said Mr. Kocurek-Gentry.