One-Act Plays, Driving to Austin & a Brush with Fame

It was the spring of 1997 and I was a sophomore in high school. I was in Austin, Texas, with about 25 other classmates from my high school. We traveled down to Austin to watch other schools, large and small, participate in the state one-act play contest. We wanted to soak up everything we could about state-quality plays after losing disappointingly in the competition circuit a few months before. Can you imagine being the theater instructor or one of the parents chaperoning such an event? With male and female high schoolers ranging in age of 15 - 18 with varying maturity levels and hormones ranging, I did not envy them. Needless to say, it was an interesting road trip.

Guess which famous stars we ended up seeing in person?

I was riding with the group driven by one of the parents which ended up being a wild ride. We hit a couple of curbs, got lost, drove half way across Travis County the wrong way, and, I found out after the fact, almost ran out of gas! We ended up getting stopped for a taillight out, but since it was a school sponsored trip, the officer let her off with a warning and she did not have to take a defensive driving course in Austin, although she might have needed it.

After all that, we finally made it to the hotel where more hijacks insured. The next day we went and watched lots of plays. Some good, some bad, some outright confusing (all plays had to be cut from the original length to 40 minutes, most were originally 1 ½
to 2). The road trip down there was not the highlight of the trip, nor were the plays, but I will tell you what was the most interesting part.

Read the rest and find out which 1990s SUPERSTAR we meet at www.TexasTravelJournal.com