Passion for the Program

Trip Langley
Actor and Former OAP Student

Atticus Finch. Preach, an optimistic American soldier in Vietnam. Doctor Sanson Carrasco. A child on a rural farm who grows up to join the military. These are the roles the UIL One-Act Play program allowed me to play as a teenager in a small AA school in East Texas. From this array, you’ll recognize two of these figures from highly regarded literature. The others are from native Texan plays, including We All Fall Down by Barre Gonzalez, a great friend of the Texas theatre institution. With that piece, I helped bring my school the furthest it has ever gone in its history: State Alternate. To this day, this is one of my proudest achievements as an actor.

In fact, it is these OAP moments I reflect on most when looking back at my formation as an artist. After graduating, I immediately embarked on the next leg of my journey by attending New York University’s esteemed Tisch School of the Arts, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. I have been acting professionally since 2004—my first audition and subsequent callback was for motion capture on a video game; for a teenage boy, nothing beats going to a warehouse and putting on one of those crazy suits covered in balls so lasers can record your movements! I am now a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity. I have worked with and trained under Oscar and Emmy winners and Tony nominees. I have been a part of award-winning films and web series. What remains nearest to my heart, however, is the OAP program.

Now living in Los Angeles, there is only one way to stay involved with my beloved OAP. I cannot direct or teach theatre, and there is no similar program in California (or any state, though some do try their hardest to simulate the superior theatre approach found in Texas.) The only thing left for me to do is judge competitions. Five years ago in January I flew into Dallas just for the weekend to obtain my certification. Being able to label myself an adjudicator for the TETA is a distinction in which I take great pride.

Just typing that last sentence, I fight emotions that threaten to overwhelm me. Plainly put—I love this program. Nothing has brought me more joy than that moment at District competition my junior year when I was finally awarded Best Actor. After three years of complete devotion, I beat out the two schools who invariably went to State and were always impossible to unseat for any recognition. The drive, motivation, work ethic, and passion that this moment of success (and all those years on the boards as a student) instilled in me live on in my current work.

The belief in what this program can do for our students is what makes me just as passionate about being an adjudicator. I was accused of over praising in my most recent contest—some other schools I have worked with would be shocked to hear that, I can assure you!—I do not, however, believe that giving due praise deters a student from continuing to push themselves in their craft. Recognizing someone’s work in a positive, constructive way (“that was great” with no explanation won’t cut it) is absolutely essential for the development of our young performers. Though I have worked professionally in the entertainment industry for almost a decade on both coasts and received thousands of notes, I can name only two compliments verbatim that I have received as an actor: one came from Stan Denman and one from J.P. Kyle, both of whom I am sure many of you will remember from their years judging contests. In 2012, I was so moved by a student’s performance that I asked the contest manager for five extra minutes between shows so I could stop shaking. Now being in the same position as Mr. Denman and Mr. Kyle, telling this student how his performance affected me is hands down my favorite moment as an OAP judge. I cannot apologize for it.

A decade ago, this student was me: a young man passionate about artistic pursuits, leaving the comforts of a small-town high school for a university education in theatre with nothing but a diploma and a dream. I feel very fortunate having been able to both develop a relationship with this student’s father and to contact a friend in television casting about auditioning this young man for a role. The opportunity to recognize talent and help cultivate it should be considered a part of being an educator, especially in the arts. My path toward a professional career could have been much different without my high school director, Mrs. Courtney Thomas of Elysian Fields High School, who took an interest in my future beyond just the time spent in her classroom. Relationships with students do not have to end at the last bell, and taking a special interest in a student’s future should be appreciated and encouraged if it happens! If you have lost the passion for this program, look to your students—they will reignite it. None of us are in this for the money. OAP is a labor of love in the truest sense of the phrase. Let us all unite for the common good of what art means to the American education system and the absolutely amazing cornerstone Texas theatre has developed through the UIL OAP program.