TORRINGTON – Sometimes, drama is a good thing. Skeptics need only step into Torrington High School auditorium during rehearsals – or better yet, the 2017 State Drama Showcase this week – for a change of heart.
Every year, local director and State Drama coordinator Christine Quillen puts together an experienced and passionate team of theater-loving students, teachers and community members. The showcase allows residents a glimpse at the group’s hard work, and gives production members a chance to work out any issues prior to State Drama – scheduled this year for Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Casper.
“This year for State Drama, Torrington is assigned to do a ‘proscenium’ (a specific type of stage setup) and a ‘devised theatre’ for the One Act competition,” Quillen said. “We read a couple of One Act plays as a group and chose ‘Digging Up the Boys’ for our proscenium because we really liked the story being told and thought working on accents would be a good challenge for us.”
“Digging Up the Boys” is a short drama by Laura Lundgren Smith and explores the events surrounding a mine collapse in a southern town.
The “devised theatre” category requires a piece written and collaborated upon by students. Torrington’s entry, “BLACK DOG” considers the difficult subject of suicide.
“We had watched the winning piece last year and started to get ideas,” Quillen said. “Megan Cockett took the lead and started writing ‘BLACK DOG’ last spring … over the summer, students interested in contributing to ‘BLACK DOG’ got together to collaborate and share ideas. Then we started working on it, under Megan’s direction, when school started. This piece has been somewhat cathartic for those involved, and the group hopes that their message can do the same for their audiences.”
While rehearsals didn’t begin until September, some students began thinking about and working on this year’s events as soon as State Drama 2016 was over, according to Quillen.
“The beginning of September, we started rehearsing our One Acts three nights a week, and working with the students on their individual events (acting, vocal, tech, makeup) two nights a week,” she explained. “Students choose a play, research, and prepare portfolios when creating light, sound, costume, stage management and publicity projects. Our filmmaker wrote, filmed, directed, and edited his five-minute film. Acting and vocal (entrants) have to read through several pieces in order to choose the one they will prepare for their event. Then they memorize, create blocking, and choose costumes/props. Our makeup people also research their designs, shop for makeup on a budget, learn to apply makeup, and create a portfolio.
“We have students who have gone through the writing process and learned script formatting in order to submit their original monologues and One Act play,” Quillen continued. “In the meantime, we directors (in collaboration with students), are working to create sound, scenes, costumes and lighting for the One Act plays, obtaining music and performance rights, and arranging everything needed to travel to State Drama. We also had to figure out how to transport our set to Casper, and I have to give a shout out to Rod and Ginny Cameron for being willing to tow the U-Haul this year. It is all quite busy and requires a huge commitment on everyone’s part.”
The intensive amount of work, research and enthusiasm will culminate locally Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at THS auditorium. The team truly appreciates the support of the community ahead of the state event, Quillen said.
“There is always a lot of positive energy and the kids are supportive of each other, assisting and giving advice to help everyone experience success in his/her endeavors,” she said. “We look forward to getting in front of an audience here at our local production to take away some of the nerves for state and help us put the final touches on our work. We very much appreciate our local audience and hope they enjoy the show.”
Over the course of the two nights, students will present two One Act plays, individual acting/vocal events, and other individual entries for State Drama. Admission is a free-will donation of canned or dry food to be donated to the local food bank.
