A dedicated group of students is gearing up to perform at the Regional One Act Festival in Falmouth on March 6th and 7th.
Schools are categorized as either A or
B, and perform in regional competitions. This year, WHS students will perform
the show The Chronicles of Jane, Book 7.
A panel of three judges will give each group a 20 minute critique and then pick
the top two shows to move on to the state competition.
The show must run less than 40 minutes
or the group will be disqualified. “Usually you’re very alert to timing, and
you have a couple of timekeepers. If you are heading towards 39 minutes and 58
seconds you tell your actors to just get off the stage,” said Director Rob
Juergens. “That’s going to hurt your score, but it’s better than being
disqualified.”
The
Chronicles of Jane, Book 7 is about a high school girl who
has put off writing a term paper until the very last night before it is due. It
details the obstacles that come her way in trying to complete the paper, with
characters like procrastination, time, the computer and the nymphs of slumber.
A unique feature about this show is that
the student actors become most of the set, said Juergens. They create desks and
chairs, computers, plugs and walls with their bodies. “They do the whole set,”
he said. “The only real big set piece is the book that holds the Chronicles of
Jane and all her nefarious stories.”
The show is as much student driven as
possible, Juergens added. There is a student assistant director, a student
rhythm director who also oversees the pit band, students who have composed
music and done the choreography and blocking. The group works together to
brainstorm ideas and solve problems. “It’s a huge group involvement,” said
Juergens.
Another interesting element of this
particular cast, said Juergens, is that many students who are normally
“techies” working behind the scenes on productions are in the onstage cast. “We
made a concerted effort to get them into the show and do something onstage for
once, which they thought was pretty cool,” he said.
While not part of the official One Act
festival, in Windham the students hold a preview weekend that is open to the
public. This serves a few purposes, according to Juergens. It allows the cast a
chance to do the show in front of an audience. They also invite guest judges to
come and give critiques like they will receive at the festival. Finally, the
preview weekend serves to raise a little money, since extracurricular theater
activities are not funded by the school beyond paying Juergens’ salary. “We
actually have to raise money if we want to do anything,” said Juergens.
The preview weekend will take place at
the Windham High School Auditorium on the weekend of February 27th
and March 1st. Friday and Saturday will feature 7 p.m. shows, with a
4 p.m. show on Sunday, March 1. On Friday, the group from Gorham High School
will also perform their play, giving audience members two shows for the price
of one. Tickets to all performances are $5 per person.
“We’d love for people to come to the
preview weekend and support us,” said Juergens. It’s not a large investment of
time, he added, since the show is only 40 minutes long. And the students love
to see a big audience when they perform. “They want to be seen. They want to
share what they are doing with people,” he said.
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