The black box stage of Paul Kane High’s drama room sits pretty empty. It’s nearly the end of the school year and things are winding down. But many of the drama students who took part in the Zone E One Act Festival are still pretty wound up.
Not only did five students bring home trophies from the April 24 to 26 competition held at the Timms Centre, but Terminal Lowes was picked to perform at the provincial Alberta High School Drama Festival held in Red Deer from May 13 to 15.
“I’m really proud of what they’ve achieved. Where we differed from other schools is that we took risks and it paid off,” says drama teacher Lisa Whitson.
Dual winner Terminal Lowes is a musical written and directed by Grade 12 students Steven Angove and Ashley Lynn. It won both Best Play and an honourable mention for Best Original Music Composition.
The musical is based on Russell, Lynn’s 13-year-old brother, who suffers from Lowe’s Syndrome, a very rare and debilitating disease. Russell has suffered strokes, is blind, his growth is affected and he is wheelchair-bound.
Committed to educating the public, the duo spent “way too many hours” working on the project and handed out at least five revised scripts to their actors.
And Angove, who wrote most of the music, explains that although this story has sadness and poignancy, they chose to develop a musical because “some emotions are better expressed musically. Some emotions you can’t talk about, but you can sing about them.”
Grade 11 student Cameron Menzies took home the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role in The Argument by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros. He plays a calming therapist that tries to reason with a couple locked on opposite sides of a dispute.
When Menzies’ name was announced, he jumped up and waved his arms. “I was enthusiastic. To be honest, I didn’t even hear them call my last name. There was such a roar.”
Another play to win two honours was John Larson’s Tick, Tick, Boom, a one-act musical written by the author of Rent. Grade 11 student Dylan Rosychuk was awarded honourable mention as Best Actor. Just a week before the accident he was in a car accident, but gamely performed without crutches.
When his name was called, “It was a nice surprise. But I didn’t freak out like Cam because last year I won an award for God and Poker.
And Mary Follette also received an honourable mention for Music Direction. In just the space of one month she formed a four-piece band that learned 12 songs. “For the time we had, we did really well,” she says.
Two other plays that were staged by Paul Kane students include Red Ribbons directed by Mallorie Hawkes and Samantha Sinclair and The In-Group directed by Whitson and Jesse Anderson.
