Plains drama club switches to skits

The Plains Drama Club had to cut one of its performances last week due to conflicting schedules, yet the cast was still able to fill nearly 200 seats in the two remaining shows.

Three of the cast members - Ireland Corbin, Keelie Hathorne and Greg Tatum - had to attend a driver's education class on Thursday evening, which had not been scheduled at the time the play was scheduled, said drama coach Terri Henry, who hung around at the school in case people hadn't got word of the cancellation. The club held performances on Friday evening and on Saturday afternoon at the school's new gymnasium.

Instead of a full length play, the 13 students put on three separate short skits called "Boxes," "An Experiment," and "Conflict." Each skit was about 30 minutes long and didn't always include the entire group of students. Each skit was a comedy with different messages. Boxes involved the emotional containment of expectations that students carry in their emotional box. Throughout the skit, "Jack," played by Greg Tatum, toys with the idea of tossing the contents of his box, which include expectations and memories of parents and others. He gets advice from other students, some who have already discarded their box. In the end Jack decides to keep his box.

"An Experiment" had a dark comedy side to it with the cast members marked by certain traits: devious (Tatum), orderly (Kaedance Ciferri), compassionate (Cecilia Harris), courageous (Mikiah Cook) and impulsive (Mackenzie Tulloch). The experiment was run by Dr. Soles, played by Django Oakcedar. The pretense is that the subjects, who hadn't volunteered, will act according to their tagged attribute, despite the unwillingness of some to accept them. The guinea pigs are given specific instructions and punished when they disobey. They are told at the start that they will kill each other one at a time. One commits suicide rather than murder. In the end, devious is the lone survivor. He thinks it's the end, but it starts all over with him and four new "volunteers."

"Conflict" starred the "Protagonist," played by Susannah Lindsay, who grew up obsessed with growing cantaloupes, despite the objections of her father, Oakcedar, who wants her to raise pumpkins. She encounters other conflicts in her life that require choices, which always center around cantaloupe and she always chooses cantaloupe, even over an offer by the Greek god Zeus (Oakcedar) to cure cancer. In the end, she dies and is buried with her beloved fruit. Mourners surround her grave, where a cantaloupe tree sprouts up, but she comes back from the dead to inform them that cantaloupes don't grow on trees.

The skits drew applause several times, but the biggest might have been when 4-year-old Winston Paul jumped up on stage during an intermission when Henry was telling the audience about the next skit. The Plains boy, Henry's grandson, ran around, talked into the microphones and challenged Henry to a sword fight. He returned at the end to tromp through the crumpled cantaloupe that was smashed on the gym floor. "He was born dramatic," said Henry, who believes he'll be part of the school drama club some day. "I might have to come back in a wheelchair to direct him," said Henry, who's been the drama coach for over 30 years.

Henry said the skits were definitely a challenge for the cast, all of whom had performed with the drama club before. She said they did a great job of entertaining the audience. "I'm truly proud of each and every one of them. They did a great job," said Henry. The cast also included: Emma Dimond, Alex Horodyski, Hailie Tompkins, and RuBea Privett, the lights and sound manager. Cathy Emmett and Ivy Horodyski served as assistant directors. The cast has been rehearsing since mid February. It was the students that selected the skits, after looking over several plays.

"They did an excellent job. Each time, they had a little more ad-libbing and had more fun," said Henry. "We had a good group and they worked well together. It's a team and they became a team," she added.