On Tuesday January 17th, at 6:00 pm, the usually darkened auditorium was filled with the voices and laughter of the Nepean Community. The grade 11/12 Senior Drama class had been planning this night for what seemed like ages. They buzzed with excitement: “There's always some nerves when you're wondering if everything will go right… for me it's hard to rival the feeling of a show for an audience, your heart is just bursting and the anticipation of getting to share with the world this piece of art that you've been working so so hard on for months!” comments grade 12 student Nina Beck.

These performances were acting as their class’s summative, four plays directed by grade 12’s and acted in by grade 11’s. My friends and I excitedly sat down and observed as the groups worked their magic!

The first play was called Anger Management, and it was directed by Deena Friedman and Nina Beck. This fun and interestings script was brought to life with the actor's energetic characters, including Lily Patterson as Polston, Rebekkah Sprague as Knifton, Mary Gillyatt as Losh, Eliezer Teitlebaum as Ford, Stephanie Winfield as Doctor Clarke, and Sophie Campell as McGowan! It presented several members of an anger management class explaining why they were sent to the group. The audience laughed exuberantly, empathized and grinned as the antics unraveled!

“I really love how all of the characters are connected somehow. It's pretty subtle but in each of their scenes they mention another character and how their actions, specifically the actions that made them end up in the therapy session impeded their own day a little bit, and to me just it's a fun nod to the interconnectedness of humans as a whole.” said director Nina on why the play stood out to her.

The second play was an exciting thriller called “Broken”, directed by Sarah Cameron and Grady McVey. I was stunned by the performance the actors gave, it was truly remarkable. Viewers were kept on their toes the whole time, hanging on to the actors every word. These included Gaïa Adjemian as Lucy Preston, a model and ex-wife of Alexander Cain, a renowned ex-criminal, Annabelle Sadler as Cain’s mother, Olivia, and Yasmine Shariat as Emily Johnson, another model who had relations with Alex. The plot of this play was insane, the set was gorgeous, and it left me thinking about it for days afterwards.

There was then an intermission for audience members to stretch their legs and prepare to be swept up in the final two plays!

We returned to watch Shadowland, a mind bending show directed by Saul Felman and Nate Berglas. They said “When choosing our play, we knew that we wanted to do something philosophical.” Well, they chose right. This play had so many pieces to it, so many things to think about and question. Depending on how you look at it, you could have a completely different take away than the person beside you, and to me that’s incredible. There was great use of lighting and sound effects in this play, and it really kept the audience engaged!

The final play was called One Stoplight Town, and it was the perfect show to end the night with. This comedic and dramatic play comments on small towns and the acceptance of technological changes. It begins with the installation of a stoplight, and unravels into a mesh of many different heartwarming and hilarious stories. It was directed by Samuel Lafortune and August Thorstein. It was an amusing and rather comforting play, leaving audience members refreshed and happy.

Overall, these plays were wonderfully directed and acted. The Senior class absolutely excelled, and for that they deserve all the praise they get!