Stars are born: Local students win best actor, best actress at UIL one-act competition

Scott Johnson Middle School eighth-grader Myles Primm, in character as Cyrano de Bergerac, was required to wear a fake nose for his award-winning role. Stefanie White/McKinney Courier-Gazette

By Stefanie White, McKinney Courier-Gazette

Published: Thursday, March 6, 2008 5:02 PM CST

This year’s Academy Awards recognized newcomers such as Ellen Page for her work in the movie “Juno.” In McKinney ISD, another acting newcomer was also honored for her work at this year’s Middle School University Interscholastic League One-Act Play Competition on Feb. 29.

“I won best actress for playing my role in ‘The Miracle Worker’ as Annie Sullivan,” said Megan Wiley, an Evans Middle School eighth-grader. Scott Johnson Middle School eighth-grader Myles Primm was named best actor for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac.

“The Miracle Worker role was Megan’s first lead in a play — in her first year to take theater in school and her first UIL competition. She has attended some musical theater camps in the past.

“It was amazing,” Megan said. “I’m so excited. My legs were shaking because I never won something that big before.”

Megan said she fell in love with the play, which tells the story of Helen Keller and her relationship with Annie Sullivan.

“I love the fact since it was a true story and you get to act it out and be in the moment,” Megan said. “You become the character onstage so it’s an amazing feeling.”

It also didn’t hurt that Megan and Sullivan share the same heritage.

“I’m Irish, so the Irish accent was fun,” Megan said.

Megan credits her success in the play to the to the other cast members.

“It was fun working with everybody in the cast,” Megan said.

Like the Academy Awards, which honored veteran actors such as Hal Holbrook for “Into the Wild,” the UIL One-Act Play Competition, also honored veteran theater students such as Myles, who has been in theater since sixth grade.

“It was pretty exciting,” Myles said. “At first, I got nervous. A lot of people in our group were getting awards, and I was just sitting there.”

Like Megan, Myles also got into his character of the long-nosed romantic poet/soldier.

“I kind of have a personal connection to him,” Myles said. “He’s a leader and very strong. It was easy to get into his shoes and play this character.”

Getting into character was a daunting task for Myles, who had to wear a fake nose.

“At first, it was really tough because the spirit gum [face glue] was irritating my face,” Myles said.

Myles said doing “Cyrano de Bergerac” was a pleasant change since most of the plays this year have been comedies.

“It was serious and we’ve been doing a lot of comedies so that was different for us,” Myles said.

Other McKinney ISD middle school students were honored at the UIL One-Act Play Competition.

Dowell Middle School students Luke Penny and Josh Starrett received honorable mentions for their work in “Skinflints and Scoundrels: Molere’s Miser.” Sarah Barr and Tyler Hook from Evans took honorable mentions for “The Miracle Worker.” Faubion Middle School students Adam Nelson and Heidi Wilzbach received honorable mention awards for “Governing Alice.” And Sean Dunn and Mackenzie Schulien from Scott Johnson Middle School received honorable mentions for their work in “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

Receiving all-star cast honors were Dowell’s Holly Roberts and Harrison Santiago; Evans’ Truett Harris and Madison Mercado; Faubion’s Emma Pendergast and Andrew Wilson; and Scott Johnson’s Alex Ammons and Caroline Upchurch.