Late last month, Valdosta Middle School became the first South Georgia middle school to compete in regional one-act theatre competition.

VMS Players Director Toni Jarvis ensured that her school could participate by not only preparing for its first competition but by agreeing to host the competition. She wasn’t certain of funding to transport her players to regional competition in any other location.

The move paid off and Jarvis and her students will travel now. VMS Players’ “Dracula: The Death of Nosferatu” won passage to state one-act competition later this month. Valdosta Middle cast and crew also won awards for performances and special effects.

The reason why Valdosta Middle is the first South Georgia middle school to compete in these competitions is simple.

Valdosta Middle School is the only area South Georgia middle school offering a theatre program.

VMS started the theatre program a few years ago under Jarvis’ direction. Given regional youth and children’s theatre activity in the region, it is a move other area middle schools may want to consider.

Valdosta-Lowndes County has two children’s theatres with the Little Actors Theatre and the Gingerbread Players of Theatre Guild Valdosta. Both of these organizations have attracted hundreds of young people to performance and stage work during the past several years.

Valdosta State University Theatre has annually toured area schools with shows designed to introduce theatre to young people.

Meanwhile, both Valdosta High and Lowndes High offer award-winning theatre programs. Both high schools have spent the past several weeks preparing for this week’s one-act regional high school competition in Moultrie. Lowndes High School Off-Broadway will present the Elton John-Tim Rice musical “Aida.” Valdosta High School Drama competes with Noel Coward’s British 1930s comedy, “Blithe Spirit.”

Meanwhile, the area has regular performances from VSU Theatre & Dance which opens the musical “Damn, Yankees” next week; Theatre Guild Valdosta which recently wrapped the Agatha Christie mystery “And Then There Were None”; the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts Presenter Series which hosts a professional touring production of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” this weekend; and Peach State Summer Theatre which presents three professional musicals each summer.

Valdosta Middle School Players has set the stage for other regional middle schools. Perhaps, other middle schools should consider following the VMS example by getting into the act.