It has been a long time since the Holy Redeemer Drama Department performed one-act plays and competed in Festival. - the last time they were there was in 2019! Now the wait is over and HRH will be returning to the place where they always shine!
“Our Drama Program has a long history of attending Festival and performing extremely well,” says Drama Teacher Peter Taylor. “With the pandemic, we were unable to hold a Festival at all in 2020 and 2021. But with the COVID protocols changing in the last few months, the Festival Committee decided to put one together so that we could give all of our students a chance to perform.”
The Holy Redeemer Drama Department usually produces three one-act plays to showcase for the community, and then performs at the Zone Festival. This year, due to the time constraints, HRH will be producing two one-act plays: one is a junior high show entitled Cuttin’ Line, and the other is a senior high play entitled The Zero Sum Mind.
“Both plays are hilariously fun to put together,” says Taylor. “All of the students involved have jumped in with both feet and are very excited to showcase their skills, while at the same time they really want to enjoy the whole Festival experience.”
With no Festival being held the last two years, a number of students have not had the opportunity to attend a Festival or even participate in a one-act play. “All of our junior high students have never been to a festival, and none of our senior high school students have been to a senior high festival,” says Taylor. “It will be an eye opening experience, for sure. But when you go to Festival once, you will always return.” Taylor added that it will give the grade 12 students in the Program a chance to go one last time, which is something students during the last two years did not have.
Cuttin’ Line will feature 20 grade 7 to 9 students, some of whom will be making their theatrical debuts. One such student is grade 9 student Shayla Frotten who will be playing one of the lead roles, Tori. “I’m really excited,” says Frotten, who joined HRH back in November. “I’m having a really fun time rehearsing this play and I can’t wait to go to Festival.” The play tells the story of a recently deceased family who is trapped in line waiting to get into heaven. The only problem is, it is a really long line. Rounding out the major roles are Maya Dalueg, Robyn Hussey, Neha Paul, Malaynie Steffler, and Nolan Taylor.
The Zero Sum Mind tells the crazy story of what looks to be a post-apocalyptic world, but how it came to be like that is the key to the story. The show features a number of experienced performers including Katie Blue, Jesse Cesario, Shaylynn Dozorec, Rayna Matthews, Cassie Pilon, Ethan Toner, and Cody Van Beek. “This show is just really crazy,” says Van Beek. “We took a strange script and made it even stranger.”
Both plays are being put together in a very short timeframe. Typically, students have two months to rehearse the plays, however due to last minute decision to hold a Festival, combined with the already planned mainstage production of Village of Idiots (which is currently being rehearsed and will be presented from June 1st to 4th), they basically only have one month. The seniors are using their Advanced Acting class, while the juniors are rehearsing at lunch…while eating their lunches!
“I’m really proud of how these students have really stepped up,” says Taylor. “Each one of them is passionate about drama and no matter how much or how little time they had, they wanted to put on a play.”
The juniors will be going to Festival on April 28th, and the seniors will be going on April 29th. Both Festivals are being held in Westlock.
HRH has a long, proud history of winning awards at Festival, however the students are more excited to just showcase their talents, as well as see the great theatre other schools will be performing.
Both shows will also present their plays for one night only on Wednesday, April 27th, at 5:00 pm in the Drama Room at HRH. The admission is “pay what you will”, and with both plays being really short, the performances should be over around 5:30 pm.
And now, the students head back to rehearsal as they inch ever-closer to their performances.