TWAW: An opportunity for drama students to hone their skills

Sharon Balzer has brought a lot of drama to Woodland High School.

As an English teacher, students’ communication skills are front of mind for Balzer. She has regularly had students write for or present to specific audiences. Her drama class experiences this most frequently.

They recently performed their version of Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who for the kindergarten classes. High schoolers donned kangaroo masks, top hats, and headbands with animal ears and made the children’s book come alive.

“Eli Abernathy crushed his performance as Horton,” Balzer exclaimed.

When the play was over, each kindergartener received a “speck” made by the drama class, a reference to the speck that was the setting for much of the play. One of the kindergartners held up her speck and exclaimed on her way out the door, “Thank you so much! I absolutely love it!” Balzer reported that everyone young and old enjoyed the experience.

Another group of students worked hard most of the semester preparing a performance. Theirs was an extracurricular project.

Drama club, not to be confused with drama class, meets after school and puts on a few performances each year. Their first production of the year was a comedy titled Virgil’s Christmas Catch.

The crew faced several challenges as they put together the show, including limited numbers and schedule conflicts. “These kids have stuck it out,” Balzer said, describing how many actors and actresses filled in to play unconventional roles and recruited new people when there were holes in the cast. They also bagged groceries to raise funds for the production.

The play was performed on stage at the Mayfield Event Center first for the school and then for the community. Junior Chloe Simmons plays Virgil, a redneck janitor who throws a monkey wrench in the plans of several players at an advertising agency with his fake ad intended as a joke.

When the spoof ad gets swapped with the real one, a comedy of errors–and accidental fortune–ensues. The climax occurs at a fancy Christmas party which Virgil and his redneck friends and family crash. The result is, as actress Chloe Green puts it, “fun and slightly chaotic.”

When asked about the process of preparing for and performing the play, Green shared, “This semester has been rather busy when it comes to preparing for the performances, and it's been a challenge. However, it's not stopped the fun that drama club is.”

Whether they’re doing it for a grade or for fun, Balzer’s drama students have been putting on quite a show for their audiences and learning a lot about communication in the process.