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After years of experience performing on stage, six Dover-Sherborn High School students are switching roles and making their directorial debut. Student directors Benjamin Hodson-Walker, Lila Hovey, Aidan Levinson, Annie Liu, Katherine Roer, and Jeb Shue, all veteran drama students, will be directing three one-act comedic plays at the Dover-Sherborn Middle School.
In choosing a play, student director Benjamin Hodson-Walker decided on a script that consisted of a collection of vignettes called "Superheroes, With Great Power Comes Ordinary Responsibility" by Ian McWethy. “I wanted to showcase the immense acting talent of the middle school drama students. By choosing the vignette format, every cast member gets their chance in the spotlight to shine.” Hodson-Walker and co-director, Jeb Shue, both superhero fans, are certain that audience members of all ages will love a funny spin on their favorite superheroes. The directors are concentrating on comedic timing and slapstick humor during rehearsals to ensure that the fast-paced comedy will get many laughs. Audience members will enjoy watching familiar comic book heroes deal with everyday life situations such as the Hulk attempting to do his taxes, Wonder Woman applying for a job, and Batman collecting Bruce Wayne's laundry.
Student director Lila Hovey, along with co-director Annie Liu, chose "Game of Tiaras" by Don Zolidis due to the play’s funny and irreverent mash-up of Disney princesses and "Game of Thrones." The hilarious combination that includes both dancing and stage fighting will surely delight audience members. Hovey says of the play, “It’s a challenge to direct - and to act - because a lot of the dialog is quick and the timing has to be right for the jokes to work.” Hovey previously worked with many of the middle school drama students both as an actor in the summer drama shows and as the costume designer for prior productions. “It was nice to know cast members from day one of rehearsals, and I think it helped some of them feel more comfortable. But it was hard to change gears from being in the show with them or fitting them for costumes to being the person in charge. Figuring out how to make that transition has been a great experience.”
The third play, "Murder, Actually" by Edith Weiss, is a comical whodunit centered around a wedding with lots of surprises. When the bride disappears and the groom falls over dead, it appears the wedding is off, but not all is what it seems. Student directors Aidan Levinson and Katherine Roer have been working on pacing and character development with the middle school actors. Roer says of being a director, “What's been really special about this experience is being on a different end of the production process. I doubt any of us ever realized how much work goes into productions before rehearsals even take place.”
The performances will be Friday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m., and two shows on Saturday, April 28 - a matinee at 2:00 and an evening show at 6:30 p.m. at Mudge Auditorium. All three plays will be performed each night. "Murder, Actually" will also be performed at the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Drama Festival, hosted by the Dover-Sherborn Middle School on Sunday, April 29. Tickets for the Dover-Sherborn Middle School spring plays are just $10 and can be purchased online at www.ticketstage.com or at the door.
