Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolten are not the only seniors that can rock a high school stage. The Senior Directed One Acts have been both a journey for the student directors and the hand-picked actors. The seniors and there shows include Lizzy Jensen With Flowers in our Eyes, Madi Kimball The Test of Dreams, Nicholas Magel Techies: The One-Act on the Wings, Sarah Martino When Time Runs Out, and Emily Woodward-Shaw Smoke and Mirrors.
Being a part of this experience not only shows the people involved how much effort and energy it takes to be incharge of not only the actors but the technical theater crew, the costume designers, and much more.
Senior Sarah Martino is one of five seniors, her play was based on “any rom-com apocalyptic movie, where two middle schoolers fall in love but sadly the world is ending and they just think about their lives together and what it could have been.” Martino described her play as depressing but full of a comedic dialogue. Not only did the seniors write the plays, they were also incharge of rehearsals, costumes, and designing the technical aspects of the show,but also went through an audition process to cast their shows.
Junior Junior Jaden Martelli played the role of Al Capone in Madi Kimball’s one act titled “The Test of Dreams.” Martelli describes the audition process as comforting and relaxing. The students went to each student director and auditioned with a monologue or scene from the featured plays, that was based off the featured play, the directors then collaborated and picked there desired actors.
Martelli was one of many actors chosen and states that “I enjoy doing these productions cause I can be more relaxed and the seniors can relate to us better in their feedback.” Nothing is wrong with being in a grand production directed by teachers and staff, but being able to relax and be in a production written by friends, adds a whole new element to the stage.
English teacher Shelley Lee is the faculty advisor that has read, approved and edited the acts before they were allowed to be put into production. The seniors have done almost all the work and Lee is just there to “help the directors out with the tiny details and the main goal of the show.” Lee has been at every rehearsal since the first day and has supported these students the whole way.
All the seniors, actors and faculty advisor say to start writing your play now if you plan on directing one your senior year. Let your old, current or any english teacher read and edit the script and write everything down, even if it is a little detail, It can make a whole scene difference.
Each play showed a range of emotion and talent, Woodward-Shaw showed exploding amounts of animated motions and attitude, Magel captured the deepest emotions of a true techie, Jensen hit the hearts of history lovers all around, Kimball took us back in time with some of history’s most memorable inspirations, and Martino brought a day of sadness to a joyful ending.  Madi Kimball was the winner of the whole contest as her play had the biggest audience reaction and the most votes. At the end of the night, each play received showers of applause as they were all fantastic and show cased each of the directors true talents.