Crater Drama's 7 Plays 24 Hours

Crater Drama’s 7 Plays 24 Hours: Creative Eccentricities From The Minds Of Sleep-Deprived High Schoolers

– by Lee Greene

On Saturday evening, February 6, 2015, I was entertained by Crater High School’s Drama Students, who presented 7 (actually 8; I’ll explain later) original one act plays, all conceived, written, rehearsed and produced by the students in 24 hours. They assembled at the Crater Performing Arts Center at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5, 2016, where they started from scratch, and the curtain went up on the new plays at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 6. Ten student writers, 27 student actors, and 7 student directors stayed up all night transforming 7 germs of an idea for plays into 7 actual, three dimensional works of theatrical art. The theater program elaborated on the process followed by the young artistes thusly:

Page from the Crater Drama theater program explaining what the drama kids did ALL night!

The resulting 7 plays were certainly entertaining and interesting, and perhaps more than a tad bit eccentric – not surprising coming from the minds of creative high schoolers turned loose and encouraged to let their imaginations run wild (they certainly did!), accelerated by a potent amalgam of sleep deprivation and deadline pressure – the curtain goes up at 8:00 pm Saturday, ready or not (they were ready!).

About that 8th play. It seems their troublemaker of a principal (Aren’t ALL principals troublemakers? Isn’t stirring the pot an essential part of the job?) Bob King, thought it would be a good idea for the students’ Drama Teacher, Matthew Reynolds, to direct a play as well. So after the 7 student-directed plays, the 7 student directors got to switch roles and become the cast for an 8th play, directed by Mr. Reynolds.

The Saturday evening of performances was a fun evening for all – the audience as well as the student dramatists. Of course, there is no way that I can satisfactorily review 7 plays, 27 performances and the artistry of seven directors HERE – I’d be up all night myself working on reviews, but I don’t have the energy and resilience of those high schoolers; heck, I’m an OLD guy. Without sleep, I get cranky, and you wouldn’t want to be the subject of a review by a cranky old critic – it’s not pretty.

But the Crater Drama students DID entertain me, and I feel it’s only right and proper for me to somehow salute their efforts and celebrate their work. So I have decided to return the favor and entertain them, and you, my readers, with a creative eccentricity of my own. Here is my homage to the Crater Drama students for their successful (sleepless) night’s work, and an entertaining evening of original theater:

Crater Drama has a full calendar of Coming Events through the Spring 2016  Semester, including Poetry Out Loud on February 9, a Performing Arts Dessert Cabaret on February 20, Dancing People Company on February 26 & 27, a Scenic Musical on March 11 & 12, the Crater Campus Talent Show on April 12, Greater Tuna from April 20 to 23, UORDC and CR Dance on May 13 & 14, and the Shakespearean play, Comedy of Errors from June 2 to 4. You can keep tabs on what’s going on with Crater Drama through the Crater Renaissance Acadamy (of which Crater Drama is a part) website at http://www.district6.org/cra/.