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Started in 2015, The PAC-1-ACT Festival is an opportunity for students to take a show from the page to the stage. PPHS Juniors and Seniors can apply each fall to be one of the directors for that seasons festival. Once selected they then select a one act form our extensive library of scripts and begin the process of producing the show. Planning a rehearsal schedule, creating blocking, designing scenery and props are just a few of the challenges to produce a show. Students learn valuable skills and make life long memories directing thier own show.
Definition of a “One Act”: A one act is a short play ranging in length from 30 minutes to 50 minutes or roughly “one act” of a full production. These plays can range from comedies to dramas and may feature a cast as small as 4 or as large as 20+.
The Annual PAC-1-ACT Festival
The 2025 PAC-1-ACT Festival will be presented March 21 at 7 PM and will feature 3 one act plays.
Presented each spring, the PAC-1-ACT Festival 3 or 4 student directed one act plays. Shows are selected by the student directors each year and new plays are continually being added to our library.
Congratulations to the selected directors for the 2025 PAC-1-ACT Festival. Claire Hemenway, Gracie Blink, and Sarah McAnelly.
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Click Here for the Production Calendar
Act 1- “The Firecracker Incident” Directed by Claire Hemenway
Fourteen-year-old Joe's parents are pretty tough. First, they moved his bedroom into his little sister's closet. Then they took away his door. And then, after he just "happened" to tie one of her Barbie dolls to black cat firecrackers and exploded them in the backyard, they grounded him for the entire summer. But when his only friend breaks him out in the middle of the night, he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, which may mean the difference between life and death.
Act 2- “Kitchen Catastrophes!” Directed by Gracie Blink
Mayhem is on the menu when celebrity Chef Guy Stagsly and his outrageous reality show Kitchen Catastrophes! visit French restaurant Chez Jacques. While Guy and his crew bring in cockroaches and rats, conduct building renovations, and stage a rigged cooking competition, the employees strive to carry on. There’s Julie, the level-headed restaurant manager; Jacques, the temperamental chef; and Mickey, the loyal and ambitious dishwasher. Not to be forgotten, there’s also Olive, a shy trainee who needs a lot of supervision. They’re not only struggling to impress roving food critics, but the stoic health inspector who has dropped in unexpectedly as well! Enjoy a palatable plateful of laughter and surprises with this delightfully delicious production!
Act 3- “The Invisible” Directed by Sarah McAnelly
Here's a poignant but necessary look at the problems of teenage bullying and suicide. J. Michael is a high school student and aspiring writer. Already dead, he narrates the events that lead up to his suicide. Along the way, we meet Melissa, his unrequited love, and Ms. Dodge, the hopeful English teacher. There's also Artie, a tough, rival student, and Mr. Butler, the ineffectual high school principal. Two other characters, J. Michael's overwhelmed mother and a tough district attorney, round out the cast. Together these multidimensional characters paint a complex picture of the pressures J. Michael must face on a daily basis. As his journey climaxes, the young poet is left with the miraculous truth that "what we do affects the world around us," and the world of the living may not be all that bad though, it is a place his muse will no longer take him. (Contains some mature language.)