Fall Drama Retrospective
December 15, 2017
The Western Drama department put on two fall plays this year. They performed The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, a show of comedic skits as the school play, while a one act play called Wit was their competition piece.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged was originally intended for three actors, but the WAHS drama department adapted the play to fit their cast of approximately twenty actors who came to the school wide auditions. “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, I chose because of what I said, that it’s hilarious, it connects people because it’s so funny and at the same time you’re doing Shakespeare,” said Ms. Pitts. The cast rehearsed almost everyday after school for the two and a half months leading up to their mid-November performances.
“I think it was great because it gets kids to appreciate Shakespeare in a very funny, comical, fun way,” said Ms. Pitts. The play incorporated all of Shakespeare’s plays into an one and a half hour production, recreating the plays in comedic ways.
“Titus Andronicus was originally a really dark play and so there’s a lot of gore, they kind of take that and make it into a cooking show,” said Justin Roberts who played Titus, Ophelia from Hamlet, and himself.
Behind the scenes there were several technical workers who operated the lights and controlled the sounds. Some of these students worked for months. Colton Forry and Liz Jahoda-Wassung programmed the light board and sounds respectively, while Erin Nelson created costumes. “It was such a good time, it was so fun,” said Rebekah Carroll, who played Romeo.
Ms. Pitts, the Western drama teacher picked Wit, by Margaret Edson, as the performance to compete at VHSL, where the performance got third. The play is about a woman finding out she has cancer and her methods of dealing with it. The cast also performed the play at the Virginia Theatre Association (VTA), where they got an honorable mention, and the two leading actresses, Abby Cole and Arina Bratkovska, received acting awards. “It was very beautiful and so well written,” said Ms. Pitts.
The department is looking forward to the start of the yearly musical, Legally Blonde, which they will be performing this upcoming spring.
