The Westside theater department is taking a different approach to this year’s winter play, 11 Variations of Friar John’s Failure. Unlike past years, the department is doing a competition to showcase the work of the students. The changes being made look to try new things and venture into the competition side of theater.

“I love seeing so many different kinds of students involved in putting on really great performances,” said Westside theater director Jeremy Stoll. “Whether it’s a single monologue or a full traveling one-act, everyone is invested in what they’re doing and having a really good time doing it.”

This year, Westside is putting on a two-part show. The first is a series of monologues, duet scenes and musical theatre solos. These are  called individual events and are being prepared for the International Thespian Society’s State Festival in January, in addition to the play.

The second part of the show is a one-act. For this section, the department is doing 11 Variations of Friar John’s Failure (adapted). This one-act show is being performed at districts Saturday, Dec. 7. Acts that advance to state will be preformed again Friday, Dec. 13.

Recently the theater department traveled to Lincoln for an exhibition at Lincoln High School. It did well in the competition. It walked away with two outstanding performance awards for juniors Ellie Kroeger and Max Tierney.

This week the play is Wednesday, Dec. 4 through Friday, Dec. 6. The one-act and individual shows will be performed in the auditorium at 7 p.m. Students can buy tickets during lunch mods or at the door. The ticket price is $5 for students and $7 for adults.