Auditioning for a play may not be easy, especially if it is one of your first. Theatre I student Jade Wedge knows the feeling of auditioning, being a part of the one act “The Worstest Play Ever Wrote.” These shows are performed by Theatre I and II/III classes and are picked and directed by the student directors for each period.
“[Alex Glasgow] printed out a couple of lines or a couple pages from our script before we got it and pretty much just told us ‘I want you playing this character.’ And we got to workshop it in the moment,” Wedge said.
All of the students were required to play a part in the show, but the student directors cast them in the role they thought fit them best. Three shows, two for Theatre I and one for Theatre II/III, were chosen by the student directors, Alex Glasgow, Ava Brown, Juliana Ruscica, Adriano Bracamontes, Camille Burton and Arie Monson and approved by Mr. Joshua Ansley.
“As the years have gone by with this kind of system, [the student directors] started to recognize the certain authors that they like,” Ansley said. “They have figured out what’s going to work for the different students we have. So they’re pretty adept at choosing things now.”
“The Worstest Play Ever Wrote” is a story about a writer who sets out to write the best play ever but it ends up being comically bad. In late January, students were introduced to the play and had 10 weeks to learn their lines and blocking.
“I tried to work on how to be scared and to be cowardly… I feel as prepared as I can be,” Theatre I student, who played “Taller Knight/Trapper #2,” Ryan Hunter said.
For most Theatre I students, the performance would be one of their first experiences on stage, compared to Theatre II/III students, whose show had higher expectations.
“There’s more students, probably half the class, who sign up to get their VAPA credit. They’re not necessarily passionate about theater but they have fun for the most part. This gives them an opportunity to have a moment on stage that might be the only moment they ever have in their life,” Ansley said.
Theatre I, unlike the higher level theatre classes, is more about setting the foundations for further development in acting — like learning how to project across a stage or overcoming stage fright.
“It’s pretty stressful getting out on stage, because it’s a lot of putting yourself out there and letting people judge you in a way. Just breathing and knowing that things will be okay, and also ignoring the audience,” Wedge said.
The show ran April 9 at 6 p.m. followed by the seventh period Theater I class who performed “The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza” at 7 p.m.
by OLIVIA BOYD, ISABELLA GIMROTH, MAIRYN OSECHECK & JEZLYN SOTELO
