MCHS off to theatre provincials after taking first place and honourable mention at drama festival

by Stephen Dafoe

Morinville Community High School (MCHS) returned from a drama competition in Westlock, held on Apr. 18 and 19, with first place and an honourable mention.

The two one-act plays were Booby Trap, directed by Jillian Andrews, and Where the Sky Meets the Sea, directed by Dalice Brown. Booby Trap will head to the next level at provincials in May and also won Outstanding Achievement in Acting and Directing, and Where the Sky Meets the Sea received Honorable Mentions for acting and visual creativity.

MCHS Drama Teacher Vanessa King said the festival was large enough to support sending two shows to provincials this year. “Any of the other 14 shows deserved a chance to go to the next level,” King said, noting this year’s competition was exceptional. “There were some really moving plays this year that left the audience deeply affected. Our show left the audience in tears and impressed the adjudicators, but we were equally impressed with so many of the other shows. The other show that will join us at provincials was a really neat movement and choral speech piece about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The chorus represented the snake and through movement and eerie vocal work tempted Eve to eat the apple. It was only 10 minutes long, but a very artistically interesting piece.”

Booby Trap, by playwright Ed Monk, the MCHS production that took top honours, is about a soldier who sits on a landmine and deals with the psychological effect of knowing that death is coming. Where the Sky Meets the Sea by playwright Mandy Conner is based on Greek mythology and tells of five Greek children stuck in a type of purgatory, trying to figure out how to appease the gods.

“We were absolutely overjoyed when the adjudicator announced that Booby Trap was one of the Festival Winners,” King said. “It was the last award of the night and the show had already been awarded the Outstanding Achievement awards in acting for Jonash Morana and directing for Jillian Andrews. We were not expecting a third honour, let alone the top honour. Our whole group leapt out of their seats.”

Morinville Community High School returned to the One-Act Festival format this spring with the two student-directed shows on Saturday, Apr. 13, to gather feedback before the competition in Westlock.

Auditions for the two student-run shows were in February, with students rehearsing every day after school and some weekends ahead of the sneak peek at the school and the Westlock competition.

King said the honourable mentions received for acting and visual creativity for Where the Sky Meets the Sea were well earned.

“Avery Pelletier, Bri Farough and Isabella Harding were such a dynamic acting team, and they were recognized for working so well together as a trio,” King said. “They played sisters stuck in purgatory and had to grasp all the complexities of sibling rivalry along with threatening Greek gods. A tough job that they made look easy. Dalice Brown was recognized for Visual Creativity because she had such unique technical challenges in her show. As the director, she had to figure out how to tie in with the sea, the stars, and the beach. She decided to create a set that emulated constellations. She designed beach rocks and rafts, built them herself and then lined them with LED lights so that the audience could understand that the environment these characters were in was otherworldly.”

King went on to say that paired with beautiful costumes designed by Avery Pelletier and crafted by Jay-Cee White-Arcand, among others in the cast, the show’s look was completed with beautiful lights and a complex soundscape.

“This show was definitely the most technically advanced show of the festival,” she said.

King said Booby Trap, which heads on to provincials, was so successful because of the incredible teamwork shown by the cast and tech team.

“Every member of this production knew what needed to be done and worked together seamlessly to achieve every goal they set for themselves,” King said, noting possible the task was made possible because Director Jillian Andrews led a master class in leadership.

“Right from the moment she decided on her script, Jillian set out to produce a professional and profound play. She knew what she wanted in every element of the show and confidently built the perfect cast and crew to execute her vision,” King said. “Every step of the way, Jillian was thinking about the next steps and how to achieve excellence.”

Now that provincials are ahead for Booby Trap, those rehearsals will continue. King said that provincials are May 9 to 11, and all winning shows from all other zones will perform at the Red Deer Polytechnic Theatre.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to experience producing a show on a professional theatre stage and to see some of the best high school theatre from across the province,” King said of the upcoming opportunity.