Bowling Green High School’s Troupe 1489 of the international Thespian Society will present their winter one acts this week.
Three of the four plays are written by BGHS students, and all are directed by students.
The plays will be presented Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. in the Bowling Green Performing Arts Center. (The show was scheduled to open today but was canceled because school was closed because of the winter storm. Drama club advisor Jo Beth Gonzalez said if school is closed Thursday, there will likely be a Sunday matinee.)
The four plays on the program are:
- “Little Dead Riding Hood” written and directed by Francis Wilson. The show has our caped heroine encountering a zombie before she meets the wolf, who isn’t such a bad guy after all. Actors are the playwright, Kylee Knauss, Emma Meeker, and Eduardo Mata.
- “A Typical Fairytale” written and directed by Reagan Otley and Ramona Foreman. We have princess out to save her kingdom from an evil wizard. She’s accompanied on her quest by her best friend and a prince of questionable strength, intelligence, and sense of direction. Actors are Otley, Reagan Hoffman, Zack Mangan, Eddie Lyons, and Piper Stutzman.
- “That’s Just the Way They Act” written, directed, and starring Hadley Shuey. The show takes a serious turn with this exploration of sexual assault in school. The victim finds support from her peers, but indifference from adults. The show also features Jordan Zimmerman, Kylen Dowlen, Paige Wulff, and Blade Kohler.
- “Life As a Techie or Something Like It” is the one play by an outside author, Christopher Fleitas. It is directed by Elle Mitsch and Lauren Carmen. On the advice of his advisor a young man, who remains nameless, is advised to take theater. The Newbie as he’s called fails as a dancer and so is relegated to being a techie, a tight knit group which is constantly at odds with the actors. This comic send up of high school theater concludes with the Newbie realizing his true calling. Members of the cast are: Emme Meeker, Kylee Knauss, Whitney Bechstein, Nia Warman, Rain Cook, Audrey Nester, David Meyer, Isaac Sands, Rory Mott, and Tyler Boice. Given the musical being staged within this play is about an undersea romance, one can’t help but wonder if maybe it’s a bit of product placement for the high school’s upcoming production of “The Little Mermaid,” March 30 to April 2.
The improv troupe The Tragic Comedians also perform in the first half. The troupe is led by Ellie Mitsch with mini-leaders Rory Mott and Rose Walters. Other troupers are: Audrey Nester, Drew Thomas, Tyler Boice, Dylan Haught, Zack Mangan, Nia Warman, Violet Grossman, and Ramona Foreman.
The technical crew, the techies, for the Winter One-Acts are: Brea Lecklikner, technical director and PAC manager; Audrey Nester, student technical director; Sophia Kelly, light board operator; Carly Lake and Dylan Haught, spotlight operators; Zoe Brujic, run crew leader; and Zack Mangan and Brianna Irvin, run crew.
The one-acts are an annual production. “Not Quite Gone,” originally written by recent BGHS graduate Ethan Woody Brown for the 2020 one-acts show won the Black Swamp Players’ annual playwriting contest. The Players will stage “Not Quite Gone” June 16-25.
– David Dupont, BG Independent
