Written By: Sophia Rollins
This past week, if you happened to see a mass of Roosevelt students crowded around the theater with tickets in their hands, here’s a quick recap. The theater department at RHS just finished hosting their 61st annual week of Dramafest, a series of one act plays directed and casted by Roosevelt seniors. All week long, starting right after school, students are encouraged to support the drama program by coming to the theater and seeing the 10 shows that participate. This year’s drama seniors chose a plethora of plays, ranging from heartfelt to hilarious, and from murder mysteries to dystopian future. But at the end of the week, a panel of judges gave the final verdict, and only three plays remain. They then perform one last time to compete for the name: “The Best of Fest.”
One of the top three included a play called “Separate Lives,” directed by Rose Dickerson and Jeret Miller. Showing a behind the scenes look of how divorced parents affect children, the show is guaranteed to portray a side of family life that you may not have ever seen before. The large cast makes up of a group of kids, all very different yet all dealing with divorce in some way; some furious at the parents, and others quite innocent and unaware. The way that Dickerson and Miller share a child’s feelings of divorce is not only heartfelt, but eye opening.
Taking third place at the Best of Fest award ceremony was Annika Prichard and Berkeley Loper’s show, “The Real Inspector Hound.” While comically confusing the audience with a play inside of a play, this show demonstrates a murder mystery in a rich woman’s home and the witty characters, or suspect, that belong to the story. Watching the mystery is a pair of critics, who eventually get pulled into the plot of the play … quite literally.
But clearly the gem of the night, taking home the crown and named this year’s Best of Fest was a play called, “Bad Auditions By Bad Actors.” The show, directed by Claire Kiersky and her partner Keaton Rahm, is a pure comedy that portrays the dilemma of a director who needs to have the classic Romeo and Juliet cast by the end of the day. What comes next is a series of disastrous auditions, one after another, with divas, cat impersonators, aggressive method actors and modern dance enthusiasts. Bowing amongst a sea of people giving standing ovations, the cast and crew were thrilled to take home the award not only for the 61rst annual Best of Fest show, but they also happened to win the people’s choice award, which meant other casts voted and loved the play as much as the judges did.
If you happened to miss this year’s shows, drama teachers Ben Stuart and Katie Greve will be putting on next year’s Dramafest Winter Edition around January. As a student, you can either try out to act in senior directed plays, or support your school by paying and watching them. Just like in year’s past, Dramafest at Roosevelt High School is an excellent example of quality theater, and how our school’s rich drama history is continuing to thrive after 61 years.
Photo By: Natalie Kauper
