For its yearly fall production, York High School performed a mock British murder mystery comedy play written by Rick Abbot. The play is 96 pages long and tells the story of a group of community theatre actors trying to put together a show that is, to the actors’ dismay, rewritten and revised countless times by their director dangerously close to opening night. Act one depicts a rehearsal going terribly wrong, act two is their first dress rehearsal, and act three wraps the disaster together on opening night. However, as the name suggests, the play goes on.
The main roles were Auggie, played by Orion Bennet (Fr.), Gerry played by Kaylee MacLuskie (So.), Henry played by Carter Smith (So.), Polly played by Kae Langdon (Jr.), Smitty played by Elise Hoglund (So.), Saul played by Jesse Eagle (Sr.), Billy played by Connor Auby (Sr.), Violet played by Emily Kabel (Jr.), Louise played by Jessica Maes (Sr.), and Phylonious played by Donnovan Jackson (Fr.). But being a play inside a play, each actor had another “character” he or she had to play within the show.
Jesse Eagle said, “I think playing two characters, like swapping between them on a whim, was a real testament to the skill of the actors. But you know, we did it. And so, I’m really proud of myself and all my friends. I think the show was a great success.” York added its own flair by introducing an ensemble cast who provided a few extra gags, consisting of four people. Jadyn Coyle (So.), Nicholas Herod (Jr.), Finn Traner (Jr.), and Jamie Van Cleave (Sr.).
Behind the scenes, the crew for the show was Devi Landry (Sr.) as stage manager, Jocelyn Williams (Jr.) as the assistant stage manager, Abigail Leyva (Sr.), Moth Nicholson (Jr.), and Elizabeth Petrin (Jr.) on props, Ella Cambell (Sr.), Basil Forrest (Jr.), and Mal Wilson (Jr.) on costumes/make-up, Anna Greenleaf (Sr.), Andrew Victoria (Sr.), and Riley Wilson (So.) on stage crew, Kylie Adams (Sr.), Joaquin Lao (Jr.), Owen Medford (Sr.), and Tyler Codella (Sr.) on electrics.
Work on the production started in late September with numerous afterschool practices, each lasting about 3 hours and hosted by Ryan and Dani Doster, the drama directors at York. The set was built by the tech theatre class at York entirely during school hours. The work was finished and ready for performance by mid-December. The actual debut of the show was on December 11th and 12th. The show sold 185 tickets, which amounted to $925 for the drama department. However, the full cost of the show was $1348.30. Ryan Doster said, “I don’t mind we lost money; the point is the experience. The real money is made on the musical. And I’m happy how it turned out: to be able to accomplish something together, being able to put on anything professionally was a good sign.
Dani Doster said, “This was the first show in a long time and we deliberately chose it as a comedy to maybe, like, have it act as a revival and celebration of the theatre returning at York High. I also think it’s an interesting show because it has two intermissions during it, and we have to change the set and build it during intermission which I think is fun.” The show was performed in an especially active time for the Covid-19 virus in the Yorktown area. However, there were no Covid outbreaks among the cast.
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