This year at the annual Theatre Showcase, students once again bring their talents to the stage and perform in front of parents, students, and several community members for their 4th year. To start students performed numerous acts that they learned throughout the year using different acting techniques as well as practicing their own musical acts. Students were required to perform one monologue or scene from Shakespeare, and one contemporary act to meet the requirements of their final.

However, students could perform additional acts if they wished. The showcase is also entirely student-led, so they bring their own props, music and any other means of what they need for their production. Students also put in lots of preparation. Junior Brennan Lapp who has been a part of theater for 6-7 years said, “a lot of rehearsals and a lot of blocking”went into preparing for the showcase. After approximately a month of preparation, the showcase took place in the Intermediate school gym starting at 6:30 PM to 8 PM. 

Theater teacher Stephanie Belt-Verhoef gave us some insight into the kind of acting techniques that they would utilize in each of their acting performances. These techniques came from inspirations and actors over the years such as Stanisslavski’s method acting and the laban movements. The students perform and use these techniques in front of other theater students regularly, but as Verhoef stated,  “A performance in front of an audience of not peers but the public.”

The opening act was “The Play That Goes Wrong” performed by high school students Storm Cox, Grace Still, and several others; it depicts a classic style play that throughout is falling apart. Following this, students performed their Shakespeare acts, with them being a monologue from one of his plays or performance with their own twist. The twists included using the Shakespearean language as a way to play insult one another or doing the monologue within modern English. After a few other acts, there was a ten-minute intermission followed by act II. This was opened with another play “Rent Fight” written by the performers themselves. After, there were two very notable acts by student Joey Jones performing a Tenacious D’s “Tribute,” and student Peyton Adamaski’s singing performance of “Flowers” by Hadestown.

If the theater showcase sounds interesting and you would like to view more local theatre, “Annie” will be performed April 16, 17 and 18. It will also be led by theater arts teacher Stephanie Belt-Verhoef and performed by people from multiple schools in the district.