Amazing Performance at Sears Drama Festival by DSS

Mitchell Patterson

               

                The Lighthouse Theatre in Port Dover holds the Sears Drama Festival every year, around the end of February and into the beginning of March. It’s where different schools around the area compete, by putting on performances, in front of a large audience. Dunnville Secondary School (DSS) attended this year, and performed on Wednesday, February 29th. Before hand, in October, Drama teacher, and supervisor of the DSS Sears Drama Festival team Barbra Drost, and actor Ben Smith, were both preparing for the festival, by finding the right script. Drost soon found one that they both agreed on, called “Aftermath” by Michael Blevins. The script is about average teenagers and their different problems, and how to deal with those problems. When the script was chosen, the extraordinarily talented Alex Kelly was chosen to direct “Aftermath”, and used his right to have creative control to his advantage, to make the play even better than it was. “I wanted to create a play that was visual, but still had an impact on the audience and even the cast. Also I wanted to do an ensemble performance, where everyone had an equal part,” said Kelly. The cast included the talents of Mackenzie Crumb, Katryna Drouin, Mitchell Patterson, Ayla Ricker, Andie Shepherd, Calen Siddall and Ben Smith. “The cast was fun, and not serious, but in a good way. To be able to do a serious play, you have to break that barrier of seriousness, and I think the cast pulled it off,” said Kelly. With only five months of practice, and putting together the beautiful set which was built by David McKinley and his construction class, the crew picked it all up and headed over to the Lighthouse Theatre in Port Dover to present their final product. After their performance, the Adjudicator gave his final thoughts of their play, and at the same time uplifted the crew because of his positive feedback about the acting, costuming, set design, and ability to perform from a difficult script. "I’m so proud of the cast and crew; they did an incredible job, especially Katryna Drouin, because of her excellent performance of her final monologue, which was the icing on the cake.," said Kelly. The whole cast and crew would like to thank McKinley and his construction class for building the set pieces, which turned out fantastic, and Eric McLean for the lighting for the play. In the near future, the cast and crew hope to continue with “Aftermath” by ironing out the rough edges and presenting it to the school.