On Thursday, Nov. 21, the Thespians and drama students began the three-day District Competition. Over 60 Timber Creek students will compete, enacting theatrical performances and showcasing talents for technical theatre work.
Technical events will showcase schools’ work with costume design, set building, and playwriting, among others. Moreover, dramatic events performed by student actors will take the form of monologues, complete scenes, and solos, with the biggest production being a one-act retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The play was cut down to one 40-minute act from its original five, while retaining the original Elizabethan style and plot.
“It is very difficult to cut Shakespeare down to that short of a time,” said drama teacher Elizabeth Horn.
This was the first exposure many of the actors had to performing Shakespeare, as it was Timber Creek’s first attempt at staging the classic playwright’s works.
“I think we were all a little hesitant,” said senior Chris Newton, who portrays bewitched teenager Lysander in the play. “As we spent more time with the script, and learning about the language that Shakespeare used in his plays, it finally clicked for us.”
The story follows the intermingled tales of four love-struck youths and mythical creatures in the woods outside Athens.
“I thought Midsummer would be a good play to start with because it is a comedy and the characters are teenagers, fairies, and other characters I thought the students could relate to. We incorporate a lot of physical comedy to help the audience understand the text,” said Horn.
Preparing a play for competition is different from standard plays. “For competition shows we have to be a lot more serious and professional backstage since there are backstage judges,” said junior Renee Ramcharan, who plays the mischievous (and sometimes bumbling) faerie Puck.
Helping to bring the story to life are technical elements which were incorporated into the storytelling. Elaborate costumes lavishly distinguish faeries from modernized Athenian mortals.
In addition, “storytellers” emphasize the magic spells and romantic tones to the poem via projections on the set’s screen backdrop, including a green elixir for when Puck casts love spells, which drive the story’s plot.
Requirements are in place for set size, time limits on getting actors into their makeup and costumes, and time limits for setting up the stage, as well as the 40-minute length maximum for the production.
Previous shows brought to District competitions by the Thespians include works such as Metamorphoses, Doubt, Oedipus Rex, and last year’s original play Wait. Three of these shows advanced to State competition, a goal the drama department hopes to achieve again after qualifying at the District level.
“When you just having the acting it is great… but when you add the set and the costumes and the technical elements, you have a show. That feeling when all the elements of a production come together is the most fulfilling thing. All the hard work that you have been putting in for however many months pays off,” said Newton.