Dublin High Drama Club One Acts Opening Night a Theatrical Treat
Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 - The Office
The Dublin High School Drama Club’s annual One Acts provide an opportunity for student directors to take control of play selection, casting, staging and of course directing fellow students (with the guidance of Dublin High Drama Director Bryant Hoex). The 2012 edition of the One Acts opened to an enthusiastic audience, with performances continuing Friday (7pm), Saturday (7pm) and Sunday (2pm).
The success of opening night was due, in part, to the clever selection of one act plays and musical excerpts. The show opened and closed with musical numbers from Title of Show (a musical about two writers writing a musical… about musicals). The choice of musical bookends to the One Acts provided the perfect opening and closing note to a series of plays that combined comedy and drama. Even the funniest selections had moments of drama and insight – most notably David Ives Variations on the Death of Trotsky – very funny yet ultimately melancholic. Making the absurdity of Trotsky work requires perfect timing and performances that never break character – both achieved on opening night.
The student actors played parts beyond their years – for a moment you no longer saw the performers as teenagers but as a middle-aged estranged couple in The Man Who Couldn’t Dance or a night shift doctor helping a mysteriously angelic patient who ultimately helps him in Night Visits or two bored to the extreme customer service employees in The Office.
The one exception to a night of interleaved comedy and drama was provided by the intense A Whole House Full of Babies - which dealt with the anguish of a young mother who had to give up her newborn baby for adoption. Most touching was John Cariani’s Her Heart from the play Almost, Maine which wrapped quirky comedy around the pain of death and loss.
The challenge of a short story or one act play is to effectively create memorable characters and a compelling story in just 10-12 minutes. There isn’t room for anything not central to the theme or story. The student directors who selected the material challenged themselves, the cast and the audience – to great effect.
If you are looking for an evening of entertainment that leaves you laughing, thinking and humming a tune or two on your drive home, then make your way to Dublin High’s Little Theatre this weekend to enjoy the 2012 Dublin High Drama Club One Acts. Ticket prices are $5 for students and $7 for adults, and the show is suitable for all ages. The program for the show is available here. TJ Florist and Gifts, OneDublin.org and Mr. Pickle’s Sandwich Shop sponsored the production.
Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 Opening Night Cast
Dublin High Drama Club One Acts 2012 Closing Night Cast
Dublin High School One Acts 2012 Student Directors
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