SHS presents final 2015-2016 play

Sabrina Kooistra
Times Junior Contributor

 

From June 5-8, Strathmore High School’s (SHS) Drama 25 and 35 classes featured a simple, yet captivating play written by Thornton Wilder.
“Our Town,” a Pulitzer Prize winner, features three appropriately titled acts: Life, Marriage, and Death. Taking place in 1901 in the small community of Grover’s Corners, USA, the play focuses on two families and their paths through life, a seemingly simple idea, but was portrayed through very relatable events.
The production itself was written as a play which featured a charismatic narrator who took the audience on a trip through daily rhythms like door-to-door milk delivery, and milestones like the “circus” that wedding preparations feel like.
Unique to this particular production by SHS, staff member Paula Furfaro guest directed. Bringing talent and passion to the set, producer and teacher Paula Richardson watched as she motivated students to think differently when merging into the intricate world of each of their characters.
This task was made more difficult, though, by the unique and rare technique of limited special effects and simple sets, props, and costumes which has challenged the students’ basic theatrical skills and pushed them to mature as actors and actresses. The majority of sound effects were created by the students themselves. As a result of this the actors and actresses were successful in bringing these very relatable characters to the stage; the events of their daily lives were chronicled with a sense of realism which was a refreshing change from the shock-factor theatrics often seen.
The production ended with the moral of living a thoughtful life, a life lived in every moment, not just in the anticipation of the coming days.
“I think it’s made [the students] look at the values of family, look at the values of heritage … so often you go through life not paying attention to the moment. You’re always looking for what’s going to happen tomorrow, what’s going to happen next year … this play brings it right down … and that’s kind of the point of the playwright is that we never take the time to look at the moment that we’re in”, said Richardson.
Not only was this the final play of the year, it marked both the first major play for some students and a farewell to high school drama for others, a fitting end as many of these students will soon embark into the next “act” of their lives.