Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Students at Prospect High School rehearse 'Audience,' one of the two plays they will be performing, starting Feb. 8. 'Women and Wallace' is the other production.
Prospect High School drama students are taking over stage
By Shari Kaplan
Whether they refer to it as Drama II or Advanced Drama, the nearly two dozen Prospect High School students enrolled in teacher Matt Tidwell's new, invitation-only class have moved far beyond studying plays in textbooks and spreading their acting wings by memorizing short skits and engaging in improvisational theater games.
They are taking the stage quite literally this week, as they offer audiences a pair of one-act plays chosen (by class consensus), directed (by sophomores Lauren Winklebleck and Lissy Edelstein) and performed by the students. Even the sets are student-built.
The plays, which run Feb. 8 through 10, at 8 p.m. each evening, are Women and Wallace and Audience. Although neither the actors nor the plays are common household names, the production is worth seeing, nonetheless.
According to senior Jen Levin, a Drama II student, actor and enthusiastic publicist, Women and Wallace follows the trials and tribulations of the title character from age 8 to 19. After the shock of his mother's suicide when he's just a boy, Wallace's social skills become more and more dysfunctional.
"He blames it on his mother that his relationships never work out," explains Levin, who portrays Wallace's intrepid psychologist. The play also features eight women--but who, if any, will finally help Wallace heal his heart?
In Audience, the "real" audience--those sitting in the Prospect theater--find themselves privy to the thoughts and emotions of the pseudo-audience they are watching on stage, who in turn are watching a theatrical production. And some of what they "overhear" is definitely worth eavesdropping on!
The premise of this may sound like something out of The Twilight Zone, but it isn't. "It's a really funny play!" Levin asserts, laughing.
Prospect High School is at 18900 Prospect Road in Saratoga. Call 408.253.1662.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
