The newly revitalized Nome-Beltz High School Drama Club goes Greek for spring performance
The Nome-Beltz High School Drama Club entertained audiences last weekend with their play: The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza. The club gave three performances in the Nome Elementary School cafeteria from Friday, May 5 through Saturday, May 6. Students sold refreshments before and after the play, as well as during intermission. The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza, a play by Don Zolidis, centered around two modern-day students recounting several Greek myths for a school project. As they tell the stories, the characters come to life and act out the myths as a series of light-hearted skits. The skits poke fun of the myths, finding modern meaning in the ancient stories and infusing them with plenty of pop culture references. Students played a different roles from skit to skit, using a variety of techniques, such as miming, music, and action figures to tell each story. Drama Club Director Rachel Finney said she chose this particular play because of its episodic nature. “This play was very appealing because each chapter could stand alone,” said Finney. Students were able to approach their performance as several smaller acts as opposed to one big play, making their work a little bit easier. After the success of The Trials of Robin Hood, the Drama Club’s play last spring, Finney said she wanted to try another comedy. Finney has been in charge of the Nome-Beltz High School Drama Club for the last two years. She said the number of kids who joined the club this year has doubled. Last year’s club was only just getting off the ground after the lockdowns, starting from scratch and introducing new students to drama. “Last year I only had four kids that had done drama,” Finney said. Now the drama club is getting back to what it used to be like before the pandemic. This year Finney said the club, which started meeting after the basketball season ended, focused on elements such as teamwork, attendance and practice. “Practice, practice, practice, every day for about four weeks,” Finney said of the intensive period in between the end of the sports seasons and last weekend’s performance. During that time, students auditioned for parts, learned lines and blocking, and created the sets and costumes. “We’ve got great kids,” Finney praised her students, saying that she saw many students make a lot of progress in becoming more confident on stage and breaking out of their comfort zones. Finney said she would like to thank the community for all the support that they have shown to the drama club as it grows back into a fixture of life in Nome. She pointed out that theatre faded in Nome after the passing of the late Mayor Richard Beneville, and that “we had to start from scratch.” It’s all worth it though, according to Finney. She sees the drama club as a unique opportunity for students to learn to express themselves in different ways and tap into their creative sides. “We don’t have as many opportunities to do that since COVID,” said Finney. At the end of the performance, cast, crew, director, and audience honored the four seniors who had taken part in the performance. The Nome-Beltz High School Drama Club will be back next spring with another play and, hopefully, a growing group of drama enthusiasts.