This year's Regional Drama Fest was held at Oxbow Prairie Horizons School, Mar. 30 and Mar. 31. The winners of this event will attend provincials at the University of Regina, May 10-12.
Members of the drama department at Gordon F. Kells have been putting together their productions since November. The junior and senior groups have been spending countless hours of practice at the Memorial Hall and Elementary School on weekends, and after school hours.
Directed by Justine Stephanson and Dean.Zacharias, the junior play is called Lip Service, and was written by Bradley Hayward, who is originally from Oxbow.
"My first play was published in Carlyle, by Darcy and Kevin at the high school and I am now able to be a writer full time," Hayward explains. "I'm more nervous than the kids backstage."
Lip Service is the story of a young man trying to propose to his wife at dinner. During his attempt, he is encountered by the varied types of crazy staff, including an extremely ill waitress, a paranoid waitress and a violinist who does not play the violin. The cast is formed of students from grades seven to nine.
The senior play is a story way too familiar to most kids these days. "Split" shows the feelings of children of divorce, and puts a humorous but sometimes sorrowful picture to the situation. This script was also created by Bradley Hayward, and was directed by Kevin Dyck and Darcy Howe.
The two groups put on a preview for the Carlyle residents, Tuesday, March 27th at the Memorial Hall. The theatre was sold out, and included parents, grandparents, business owners and fellow supportive students.
Popcorn and beverages were on sale, and many of the audience took advantage of the concession stand at the brief intermission.
The preview included a practice run for the split crew of setting up their stage. In Oxbow the team was only allowed 10 minutes to put up the set and five minutes to tear it down.
Props were also made by students, with the exception of some adult contributions on the house created for Split.
The senior group performed in Oxbow Friday at 9 p.m., followed by the juniors on Saturday at 2 p.m. The tough competition included schools from Oxbow, Arcola, Redvers, Moosomin and Lampman.
An awards ceremony was held Saturday evening, after the final performance.
Congratulations to Daysha Smith, Nathen Schmidt, Cole McArthur, Megan McAuley, Megan Shirley, Megan Reaves, Marissa Owens, Brittany Rowe, Brooke Valentine, Kaelie Bouchard, Hailey Hoffmann, Shelbey McNair, Terena Reiss, Lee-Amber Laderoute, Jordan Gudmundson, and directors Mr. Zacharias and Miss Stephanson. Megan Reaves received an award for stage management, Cole McArthur received an award for lighting and sound, Nathen Schmidt and Megan McAuley received awards for acting, and Megan Shirley received the Unsung Hero Award. Along with these individual awards, the Junior Club was honoured to receive the award for "Most Courteous Cast and Crew.
The Senior Club also had an amazing performance. Congratulations to Rachel Corrigan, Nick Schmidt, Emily Klatt, Brooklyn Zacharias, Cody Slykhuis, Kady Reaves, Tavia Williams, Santana Pylatuik, Chelsea Humphries, Marijke Meyer, Cole Grimes, Tenille Rutten, Jasmine Pylatuik, Brittany Vogel, Mariah Blohm, Kacey Valentine, Desirae Weber, Austyn Stephenson, and the directors Mr. Howe and Mr. Dyck. Chelsea Humphries received an award for stage management, Kacey Valentine received an award for prompting, Emily Klatt and Nicholas Schmidt received awards for acting, and Brooklyn Zacharias received the Unsung Hero Award. The senior's play, Split, was selected as Runner-Up for the festival.
"I'm very proud of them all, "Says Darcy Howe, director of Split and vice-principal at the high school. "They all did an excellent job. We ended up in second place, but the playwright Bradley Hayward was also very proud of them and pleased with their performance."
The clubs attended acting workshops during the festival as well as organized and attended a dance in the Oxbow gymnasium.
