Anyone up for some high school drama?
Theatre fans in the Lennoxville area are in luck, with not one but two different high school plays coming up over the next two weeks.
First, starting tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. the Bishop’s College School Players’ Club is mounting a production of Murder on the Rerun, a murder-mystery comedy written by Fred Carmichael.
Set in a Vermont ski lodge, the play offers a witty yet suspenseful look at the life of Hollywood celebrities through the eyes of Jane, an Oscar winning screen writer who was pushed down the stairs and Kitty, an angel from “up there” who is trying to earn her wings. While taking the audience through the journey of discovering Jane’s killer, director and BCS Drama teacher Miranda Mcgie said that the work also shines a light on celebrity culture.
“I tend to pick plays that mock society,” the director said, “and our society idolizes celebrities.”
Student Actress Grace Gardner, a veteran of the BCS stage, said that she particularly enjoys the way that the play explores the idea of life after death. Cast in the role of Kitty, the would-be angel, Gardner is in the position of trying to sort out the details and balance the moral scales among a group of off-again, on again egocentric friends.
“They’re very self-important, stereotypical celebrities,” Gardner said, adding that the production has been a fun experience.
Murder on the Rerun runs from December 7 to 9 starting at 7:30pm each night.
The following weekend, Alexander Galt Drama will be presenting a Christmas story of love and loss in Searching for David’s Heart by Cherie Bennett.
“I’ve been wanting to do a drama for a while,” said Galt Drama teacher Olivialouise BCS cast (Top) Thuy Anh Doan, Ivannia Gomezgil Yaspik, Sebastian Colley, (Bottom) Robert Bohong Fu, Violetta Zeitlinger Fontana, Grace Gardner and Leah Annia Plante-wiener Grenier, explaining that she tries to keep each play different from the one before it so that students get a varied experience of the performing arts.
In brief terms, Grenier said that Searching for David’s Heart is about a Christmas miracle. Set in the present day, the story deals with contemporary family struggles, the challenges of growing up, and the pain of losing someone close. Looking at the upcoming production, the teacher said that the story is one of the more challenging that has been put on in her time at the school because of its realism and the complexity of its staging.
This will be Kevin Parnell’s sixth time involved with a play at Galt but because of the nature of the show, and his role as the titular character of David, he said that this time is very different.
“The goal isn’t necessarily to make people laugh,” Parnell said, noting that most of his previous roles have been in comedies. This time around he is faced with the challenge of connecting with the audience without necessarily relying on humour. “I’ve really learned a lot.”
With a cast of only 13 actors, which Grenier pointed out is small for a high school production, there has been more time for the actors to develop their characters and really dig deep into what motivates them. This, the drama teacher noted, is important in the context of a story where there is no fantastic setting or magical force to fall back on.
Searching for David’s Heart will be presented at the Alexander Galt Auditorium from December 14 to the 16th at 7:30pm