Pool noodles flying through the air, zombies stumbling across the stage, and a crowd roaring with laughter, describe the atmosphere at the “Thrilling Night of Theater,” a one-act showcase the Advanced Drama class held as their midterm project. At this event, students were able to showcase skills they had learned over the semester, including show acting and writing. Students prepared for this event for three months, including rehearsals, costumes, props, stage lighting, music and more. Students were encouraged to write their own one-acts or short-form plays, and many more performed and offered other help around the set. Three one-acts were included in the event, including Waterslide, written by senior Kiera Miller, Clown House by senior Maxine Allen and senior Ariya Anvari, and “Scary-oke,” an episode of the popular Disney show Gravity Falls adapted and directed by senior Elli Baluyut.

Miller shared how her radio play inspired her to write Waterslide for the showcase. While initially on the fence about writing a one-act, when the program said they needed more directors, she decided to give it a shot.

“I wrote the majority of the radio play in the same slapstick comedic style, but I had a lot of fun writing that, and it was quite easy for me. I was able to write whatever came to mind and make it work. So since I enjoyed writing the radio play so much, and people seemed to think it was really funny when we read it in class, I decided to write my own one-act,” Miller said.

Miller had done radio plays for theater in the past, however, this was her first time writing a one-act. While she faced trouble with getting props and had to change her story along the way, she ultimately enjoyed the process of writing Waterslide.

“I wrote down all the settings that came to mind, like the beach, water park, forest, haunted house and just random things. Then, I wrote down a bunch of character stereotypes, like the hippie, the overachiever, the nonchalant one, etc. I eventually decided to do a water park because I thought the props and costumes would make it unique. Then, I chose characters that would fit the piece and setting, which ended up being the uninterested lifeguard, the one who really wanted to go down the waterslide, the bully, the one who’s scared of everything and later, the hippie and the uptight lifeguard manager,” Miller said.

Junior Meredith Bacher, who played Mable in “Scary-oke,” noted her experience working on something completely student-run.

“It’s 100 percent student-designed. So the lighting, costumes, makeup, that’s all student-designed. It’s a lot of fun, I feel like getting input from peers is very interesting because it’s a more even level. Of course, I love Ms. Staab (Drama teacher), but getting student input is fun, too,” Bacher said.

Since late October, students have been rehearsing and preparing for the event. Bacher described some of the preparation that went into making it happen.

“Every drama class we will come in and rehearse in our separate performance groups. Actors have had assignments to get to know their role better and better and learn to connect with it, which was pretty cool. All the student designers have been working on costume, hair, makeup design and lighting design since the beginning. So now it [all came together for that weekend],” Bacher said.

Miller echoed Bacher’s sentiments, explaining that her cast was also enthusiastic when it came to learning how to get into character and fit into their role to the greatest extent.

“Everyone was asking lots of questions, making sure they understand their characters in the setting. We’d sometimes do improv games when the whole cast wasn’t there, which they responded really well to, that would kind of display the relationships between the characters. For example, I had them do this character assignment where they wrote a story of their characters’ first time learning to swim, and they were all really creative with it. It really added to their characters and their understanding of them,” Miller said.

Bacher explained that she didn’t even know about Gravity Falls until some friends introduced it to her earlier this year. She said one of her favorite parts of being in the performance was the rest of the students working with her. 

“It’s a very tight-knit family, very tight-knit characters, and it’s just been nice getting to interact with my friends in that way. Everyone’s friends with everyone in that class so it’s just a great working environment,” Bacher said. “[The Showcase] is a fun-filled night with lots of laughter. It’s just so fun.”