This year’s winter show, PROOF by David Auburn, proved to be a valuable experience for the cast, crew and directors. The Tony and Pulitzer Award winning script provided a challenge due to its mature themes and the amount of dialogue. The entire show was performed Feb 28 and March 2 for receptive audiences who then had the chance to ask the cast questions regarding the script, the characters and the experience both nights. The third performance, of Act One only, was entered in the Mass. High School Drama Festival, which Algonquin hosted in the black box on March 1st.
Festival gave the cast and crew the opportunity to meet students from both Dennis-Yarmouth and Ayer-Shirley and to view their 40 minutes shows. Our crew was responsible for helping to tech these other shows, and Algonquin won the prestigious ‘ensemble award’ where the 4 senior class cast members were celebrated with individual acting awards. More importantly, we hosted a dynamic afternoon and evening of theater where students were given verbal feedback from veteran theater professionals who both supported choices and offered suggestions to improve each show. We had our last performance after this event and we were able to utilize the judge’s comments to further improve our show and to recognize the hard work we invested in rehearsals was recognized.
This show was co-directed by drama teacher Maura Morrison and bio teacher Brian Kelly. The set was designed by art teacher George Hancin and applied arts teacher Dan Strickland. Art students worked on construction and painting. The crew of 10 students worked backstage.
