Being a deadly combination of show-woman and sharpshooter is something that both Annie Oakley and Powell High School senior Hannah Sears have in common.

On May 6-7, Sears, who is an accomplished shooting athlete with a commitment to shoot for Hastings College, played Annie Oakley — one of the most famous female shooters in American history — in the high school production of “Annie Get Your Gun.”

The famous musical was first performed in 1946 and brought to the silver-screen in 1950.

While it seems that the role may have been cherry picked for Sears, drama club director Jeff Greaham said that the lifestyle of the real-life character and his chosen lead were a coincidence and she had to earn the role through an audition process like anybody else. It wasn’t until production began that Sears signed on to shoot for Hastings College. Greaham applauded Sears and her co-lead Joe Bucher who he said had outstanding vocal talent. The musical and student-led lighting (a first in many years) went “pretty darn well,” he said.

“It was really fun, by far my favorite production,” Sears said of her first leading role.

Sears had played the lead in a small dinner theater production but Oakley was her first character in a full-length musical. As a sports shooter, being able to play Oakley added to Sears’ experience.

“I think it was really fun to play someone who does what I do in my real life,” Sears said. “So that was kind of fun to connect my real life to the stage production.”

In real life Oakley was a popular female sharpshooter in the late 1800s who toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show alongside her husband Frank Butler. This was the basis for the musical, although Sears, who has done some research into Oakley’s life, noted that the play is not entirely accurate to the sharpshooter's life “but it’s pretty close.” Sears had done past research on Oakley in part because of her lasting fame as a female shooter; she has also seen some of Oakley’s rifles in person.

Sears may not have met the love of her life and toured Europe shooting for royalty but she is a successful shooter in her own right. Last summer she competed in the 2022 National Championship hosted by the Scholastic Clay Target Program in Texas. Sears earned her “25 Straight Patch” at the event meaning that she shot 25 consecutive targets and she placed within the top third of competitors out of roughly 3,000 shooters. This year Sears qualified once again for the competition where her biggest goal is to beat her own personal record; this brings to mind the attitude of another famous marksman.

The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming credits Oakley with saying:

“Aim at a high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, nor the second and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting, for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you’ll hit the bull’s eye of success.”

Shooting at the collegiate level was a “high mark” for Sears, now she’s set her crosshairs on another target. After she officially enters life as a college student Sears’ next goal is to qualify for the Collegiate Clay Championship in Texas.