On November fourth, a kick-off to the drama scene here at MTHS was launched in the theater at 7. Pm. The first play of the school year, a double feature of one act plays consisting of “The Great MTHS Poe-A-Thon” and “Ten Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.”
The opening one-act play, “The Great MTHS Poe-A-Thon,” introduced an artistic interpretation of three popular stories from the famous Edgar Allan Poe. The stories, in question, were the Cask of Amontillado, Tell-Tale Heart, and Fall of the House of Usher. A detail I found quite interesting about this play was that it had no physical props throughout. As the actors read from stands, sounds created by the actors themselves and lighting were used to create an eerie atmosphere that contributed to the storytelling. Another factor that enhanced the play was a projector, which displayed mysterious images relating to the story as each scene progressed.
A twist that came with this play was that the actors were competing against one another in a battle to determine which of the stories was the spookiest. The spookiest story, as determined by the audience, would be deemed the winner. As the audience voted through a series of applause, the most raucous applause seemed to favor (unsurprisingly) the last story, “Fall of the House of Usher.” Why so unsurprising you may ask? Several scenes I found tipped the votes, one being Alexander Kim’s impressive performance on the violin, playing a melancholy tune, befitting to his character. Another scene is when Roderick Usher, played by Alexander Kim, and Madeline Usher, played by Alice Low, go behind the projector screen in a battle to the death, spotlights casting their shadows on the projector screen for the audience as they fight. Along with these alluring scenes, the mood also served as a highlight of this story. During which, the lights flashed on the crowd to signify lightning, the stomping of feet created the sound of thunder, and the scratching of their stands to signify wind. It all came together to create a harrowing thunderstorm for the audience.
After a brief intermission, the second one-act play, “Ten Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse” offered a different style, serving as a contrast to the previous play. Narrators Maddie Keating and Sabin Metallo educated the audience on methods for surviving the zombie apocalypse through ten comedic skits that, each time, left the audience with smiles on their faces. Similar to the preceding performance, the set had no physical props and consisted of just a projected image on the screen and a few stage blocks. The simplicity of the set allowed the actors to showcase their abilities as they captured the audience with each scene.
A particular scene that had me smiling was when actor Charli Gilchrist made an effort to flirt with the zombies, occasionally flipping their hair as they attempted to compliment the zombies. In the plethora of funny jokes and action-packed scenes, another key moment that stood out to me was towards the end of the play when all the actors suddenly turned on the narrators. This action of “breaking the fourth wall” wrapped up the performance nicely and left me, along with the audience, impressed.
It’s easy to say that these two one-act plays set the bar high for plays to come. The diversity between the two appealed to a large audience and kept the audience engaged throughout the evening. With the simplicity of each set allowing the audience to connect with the characters and highlight the innate talent of the actors, I can’t see a reason why people wouldn’t pay the low price of $5 to watch it.
