Junior Brendan Dugger and senior Maddie Alderman rehearse at city park for the spring drama performance. The play is at 7 p.m. May 4 in the WHS auditorium. Photo by Karlee Swenson.
As the drama class enters final preparations for its spring performance, it doesn’t just have one play to prepare. It has two.
Instead of one full-length play, the class chose two one-act plays to perform. The plays, “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” and “Breaking Badly,” both feature a series of painful breakups.
Director Brendan Praeger said the plays were chosen because of the difficulties of rehearsing during the spring. “Between sports and other activities, we only have a few classes where everyone is present to rehearse. We chose these plays because most of the scenes feature two or three actors, so we can rehearse more independently,” Praeger said.
Praeger said the class didn’t find a full length play that met its needs, so two shorter plays with similar themes was the next choice. “It’s like a double feature,” Praeger said. “Both plays have similar themes and energy, so they fit well together.”
In “Breaking Badly,” written by Jonathan Rand, ending a relationship is never easy. Desperate for a way out, Lily turns to The Breakup Center, where she can pick the perfect method from a selection of real breakups.
For the second act, “It’s Not You, It’s Me” by Don Zolidis follows several couples through their hectic breakups. From a secret agent boyfriend to a girlfriend who is a pathological liar, one thing is for sure — everyone is about to get dumped.
Maddie Alderman plays the female lead in “It’s not You, It’s Me.” “I’m running my scenes with the other members of the cast and we’re especially trying to get down the comedic timing to make the scenes as funny as possible,” Alderman said.
Adding to the challenge of performing a play in the spring, the May 4 performance might be the only time the class gets to perform the entire production at once. “A couple of cast members are at a technology fair for the dress rehearsal, so even that will leave out several scenes,” Praeger said. “They just have to prepare well independently so we can put on an entertaining show.”
The play opens at 7 p.m. May 4 in the high school auditorium. Tickets for the performance are $5 for adults and $3 for students.
— Jayna Keller, @whscharger
With only one loss, a state trip was almost guaranteed, but one last match against Mission Valley would confirm it. Having beat the opposing team before in pool play, the team was confident a victory was in sight.
