By: Erin Moore

Last weekend, Highland Park Senior High School’s Theatre department performed its first weekend of Winter One Acts: five short plays filled with humor, drama, and talent. This weekend, six brand new one acts will be performed, each just as entertaining as those performed last weekend.

Performances will be January 26th at 7pm, January 27th at 2pm, and January 27th at 7pm. As there is an additional one act, the show will likely run longer than last weekend’s two hour performance. A brief intermission in the middle will allow audience members to purchase drinks, snacks, and merchandise, all for the benefit of the school’s theatre program.

Tickets for the Winter One Acts can be paid in either cash, card, or check. They are priced at $5 for students, $10 for adults, but are free for anyone currently with Nancy Michael as a teacher.

The student-directed one acts included this weekend are: ‘Alice and her Wonderland,’ ‘Zero Sum Mind,’ ‘We are the Sea,’ An Open and Shut Case,’ ‘Bad Auditions by Bad Actors,’ and ‘Murder in the Asylum.’

‘Alice and her Wonderland,’ written and directed by Bedeline Breninger, is “a fun small play about Alice and her wild adventures in a mysterious land, where she acquires a party of people trying to help her get back home to France.” This one act takes a whimsical spin on the classic ‘Alice in Wonderland.’

‘Zero Sum Mind’ is written by Stephen Gregg and directed by Esther Anderson and Jade Gaw. When told to summarize their one act, the directors said, “If you could only remember one thing, what would it be? In a world cursed with the zero sum mind, this is the most important question.” Biz Books says, “In a post-apocalyptic world our minds only have a finite amount of space. Every time we learn one thing, we forget something else. People try desperately to NOT learn things! How it came to be like that is the key to the story.”

Elodie Cummins and Evadne Pond direct Laura Lundgren Smith’s ‘We are the Sea.’ It is summarized by Playscripts.com as follows, “Norah, Una, and Iseult set sail from Ireland to escape the ravages of hunger, only to find a new set of dangers on their ocean voyage. The so-called ‘coffin ships’ are full of illness, squalor, and grief, and the passengers can rely only on one another and their memories for comfort. When a cruel, angry sailor refuses to show them mercy, it seems like even their stories might be lost. But they don’t know that the sea that swirls around the ship is listening. The sea remembers everything. And the sea demands justice. A poetic and striking historical drama with a hypnotic ocean chorus.”

‘An Open and Shut Case’ follows intermission, directed by Kaea Andrews and Lashia Lee and written by John Mattera. “Young, handsome Harold is married to elderly, wheelchair-ridden Elizabeth because of that age-old attraction—money. So naturally, Harold plans to murder her and inherit all that glorious money. He convinces Elizabeth that he can no longer tend to the big house by himself, and she reluctantly agrees to let him hire the people he claims are so urgently needed: a nurse/companion, to tend to Elizabeth’s needs; Lisa LaRouche, a housekeeper who says she does windows and whatever else needs to be done; Inga Slayton, a cook with a flair for preparing Scandinavian dishes; and Zachary Flood, an unkempt, uncouth groundskeeper. Who-done-it? Your audience will be shocked when they finally find out the answer.” The above description was found on Dramatic Publishing.

‘Bad Auditions by Bad Actors,’ directed by Bijou Kruszka and Alex Roepke, was written by Ian McWethy (the same author as last week’s ‘Appropriate Audience Behavior’). Playscripts’ description reads as follows: “A casting director has one day to find the leads for a community theater production of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ But what seems like a simple task proves impossible when the pool of actors includes extreme method actors, performers who just don’t know what to do with their hands, and one particular woman who may or may not think she’s a cat. This hilarious comedy will bring you to the last place you’d ever want to be…behind the doors of a casting session.”

The final one act of the evening is ‘Murder in the Asylum,’ written by James Campbell, is directed by Abby Gustafson and Owen Jahn. Off the Wall Plays says, “It’s another day at Saint Woden’s Asylum. Another day and another mysterious murder has occurred in this absurd whodunit script. The patients at the asylum are dying like flies and nobody has a clue as to who’s knocking them off. In fact, it’s driving Doctor Mario von Woden a little round the twist himself. Let me rephrase that – he’s just very, very, very stressed. He’s most stressed that even the simple task of dictating a memo for the police is a struggle. When a policeman arrives at the asylum and starts interviewing patients and staff, who then die in a number of weird and wonderful ways, Doctor von Woden’s suspicions are aroused….”

These plays have taken a lot of hard work for the cast and crew, especially given that five other one acts were performed merely a week prior and this is the final week of the first semester. The best way to show appreciation and support for their efforts is attending these performances.

If you would like to participate in Highland Park’s theatre department, contact Nancy Michael, another person you know who’s already involved in theatre, check out @hptheatrearts on Instagram, or sign up for an audition via a poster in the hallways.

The theatre department’s next show will be the spring musical, ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ Performances will be from April 18-20 and auditions will be held on February 5th and 6th. Audition posters containing a signup QR code can be found throughout the school. If you’d rather be involved in tech crew or the pit orchestra, try contacting the theatre department in one of the previously listed ways.

By: Erin Moore

This weekend, Highland Park’s theatre department will be putting on their first of two weekends of Winter One Acts.

While Highland usually only has one weekend of five one acts, this year there will be two weekends: five shows the first weekend, and six shows during the second. The first weekend’s shows will be January 19th at 7pm, January 20th at 2pm, and January 20th at 7pm.

All performances will be at school in the auditorium. Tickets are priced at $5 for students and $10 for adults, which can be paid in check, cash, or card. Students of Nancy Michael get in free!

Winter one acts are short, student-directed plays, and a great way to begin participating in theatre, as casts are small, and there are more opportunities for both actors and tech crew.

This weekend, the one acts being put on are ‘Cut,’ ‘Who Killed Emma,’ ‘Super Dead Man,’ ‘Passing Strangers,’ and ‘Appropriate Audience Behavior’ in order of performance. The total show will be around two hours, with a short intermission between the third and fourth one acts, where audience members can purchase concessions or merchandise outside of the auditorium.

‘Cut’, the first one act of the evening is directed by seniors Ella Tjaden and Sophia Paske and written by Ed Monk. According to Playscripts.com, “A group of actors rehearses a play within a play within a play. As the plot complications multiply, the actors begin to forget who is playing whom and who is the real director — as opposed to the actor who is playing the director, or vice versa. Then they can’t seem to remember who they really are, as opposed to the people they are playing in any of the various scripts. Then things start to get confusing…”

‘Who Killed Emma,’ directed by Piper Crosby, Annika Getz, and Sally Norby, began as a short IB film, but has developed into a hilariously entertaining one act. True crime podcast hosts Rachel Day and Casey Williams have chosen the unsolved murder of highschooler Emma White as their focus for the newest episode of their podcast. Through interviews with those who knew Emma best, they slowly begin to unravel a case that has remained unsolved for a decade.

The next one act is ‘Super Dead Man,’ directed by Nora Abenth. “Comedy and awkward moments are the best combination. You wouldn’t want to miss that now, would you?” While it’s the shortest of the one acts, it’s the perfect show to end on before the show’s intermission.

‘Passing Strangers,’ written and directed by Finn Black and Dmitriy Mangal follows the stories of six strangers as they find themselves stuck waiting for a train together. They help each other deal with their conflicts and come to terms with truths they don’t want to accept. This show is a sweet example of how healthy friendships and familial relationships can change lives.

‘Appropriate Audience Behavior,’ directed by Leo DeWolfe and Ryan Mitchell and written by Ian McWethy, concludes the first weekend’s show. The directors described their one act as, “A comedy about a local theater’s production of ‘Hamlet’, which focuses on the shenanigans in the audience. From talking to chewing, they don’t seem to know the proper etiquette.”

Everyone involved in these one acts–actors, directors, stage managers, props department, set designers, costume department, etc–have worked incredibly hard to make these amazing shows what they are, but the audience is why the work is put in. If you find yourself interested and able to attend, seeing them this weekend is a great way to support the theatre department.

Next weekend, six other one acts will be performed at the same times as the shows this weekend. Next week, an article detailing their plots will be up if you’re interested in reading.

If you’re interested in being involved in future productions, ask someone directly involved in theatre, look at the hptheatrearts Instagram page for information, watch for posters with audition QR codes, or contact Nancy Michael directly for acting in the shows or being on tech crew.