Sudhoff takes play to State
STEVE HARTMAN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville High School senior B.J. Sudhoff won the MSHSAA district speech and drama competition for a one-act play, and is taking his play “An Iliad” to the MSHSAA state competition April 24-25 at Missouri State University in Springfield.
Acting has been in the blood of Maryville High School senior B. J. Sudhoff since he was a small child, and after capturing the MSHSAA district championship with his performance of seven characters in the one-act play “An Iliad,” Sudhoff is headed to state competition at Missouri State University in Springfield April 24-25.
Eight one-act plays competed at the MSHSAA district competition at Liberty High School and only the top two finishers qualified for state competition.
“I remember watching ‘Goldfinger’ with my dad when I was about 5 years old,”Sudhoff said. “From that moment on, I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to be James Bond.”
Sudhoff, who has been very active in school plays and drama during his four years at MHS and a national qualifier in Dramatic Interpretation in 2014, began attending summer acting camps around the state of Missouri during his junior high years. An event that occurred during a summer acting camp in Chicago last year got the young actor interested in doing one-act plays.
“One of my Chicago summer acting camp instructors performed “An Iliad” for us,” Sudhoff said. “I was so impressed, and decided then that I wanted to try a one-act play.”
Sudhoff said the main character in “The Iliad” is named “the Poet” and he has survived throughout history. It is his job to inform society about the horrors of war and battle, and how destructive it is on society.
“Even though ‘the Poet’ teaches about the destructive nature of war and battle,” Sudhoff said, “he also brings out some of the heroic aspects of battle, as well.”
In the 30-minute cut of “The Iliad” Sudhoff performs in competition, he plays seven different characters. He said the challenge is performing each character in such a way that the audience easily sees each different character, even though the same actor is playing all seven.
Sudhoff’s first state performance will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 24 at Missouri State University in Springfield. The top four one-act plays, as judged by competition judges, will perform again on Saturday, with the top three finishers receiving awards.
“I am most excited about seeing the performances from the other competitors,” Sudhoff said. “That’s the best part of the whole experience for me.”
To prepare for state competition, Sudhoff will perform a dress rehearsal of “The Iliad” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 21 at the Black Box Theatre on the Northwest Missouri State University campus.
Sudhoff, son of Doug and Diane Sudhoff, plans to continue his acting career in the fall by enrolling at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to pursue his bachelor of fine arts degree in acting.
