Moses Lake High School's 'Just Another High School Play' premieres Wednesday
It's complicated, but the guys in Little Women (from left, Jimmy Nava, Sage Russell, Austin Kessler and Mateo Diaz Lopez) perform in a scene from a surreal play in 'Just Another High School Play', performed next week by the Masque and Gavel Club at Moses Lake High School.
MOSES LAKE - A cautionary tale about what happens when the cast blows off the school play will be presented by the Moses Lake High School Masque and Gavel Club April 30 and May 1 and 2.
The curtain goes up on "Just Another High School Play" at 7 p.m. in the MLHS Theater, 803 East Sharon Ave. Tickets are $6 general admission, $5 for students with an ASB card.
The play, written by playwright Bryan Starchman, takes place on opening night of the high school play, said director D. Jay Kendall, who's also the club advisor. Alas, nobody attended play practice. Now it's opening night, the audience expects a play and the drama teacher is nowhere to be found.
The drama teacher leaves behind a letter, announcing she's done with cast and play, and they're on their own. With things getting ugly in the house, the assistant director and stage manager "find a box of scripts in the back and try to create a play out of it," Kendall said.
"After reading the first three pages of the script, I was falling off my chair," he said.
The box is full of good stuff, Shakespeare, Dickens, Thornton Wilder, Louisa May Alcott. But a cast that couldn't be bothered with rehearsal isn't about to take any of those people seriously. "There's nothing sacred in this play," Kendall said.
There's the "Romeo and Juliet" puppet show, "Little Women" with some help from surrealist Edward Albee (and a rebellion by the girls in the cast), melodramas, musicals and some slicing and dicing of Mid-Century Modern.
Unlike the fictional cast, the MLHS actors did show up at rehearsal, and have been working for about five months, Kendall said. "Comedy is very difficult to do," he said, and the cast has been working on timing, the physical comedy, making sure the gags work."
The cast includes Ashley Allaire, Shelena Butler, Mateo Diaz Lopez, Katie Irvin, Bailie Kendall, Austin Kessler, Mariah Lohr, Isabel Munoz, Jimmy Nava, Sage Russell, Jasmine Valdez, Emma Wengreen and Allie Mae White. Chief Moses Middle School teacher Sharon Winningham makes an appearance as the drama teacher.
Alyssa Boggs is the assistant director. Catie Fox is in charge of the lighting and Rhyan Harwood is the audio technician. Emily Bostock is in charge of hair and makeup, and Maria Macias and Emily Bostock make up the stage crew.
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