The public will be given an opportunity to see Lower Lake High School thespians in action when they host their annual Comedy Tragedy Night, 7 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 18 in the campus multipurpose room. The young actors will privilege its audience with performances that recently gained them award-winning recognition at the Lenaea Drama Festival at Sacramento State University.
Tracy Lahr could not be prouder of her talented group of drama students who she said represented their school admirably at the Lenaea Festival. The students brought home a bronze medal for their original one act play, “Baby Talk” and Juni Thom and Nick Molencupp received an award for Most Improved Duet.
Student director Alexa Perdock was very pleased with the outcome of her directorial debut. “It was a new experience for me and I think that”s what I liked about it the most,” she said. “It was pretty cool that we got a bronze medal and I directed it. I”m really proud of all of them for doing so well.”
Perdock said it was a bit challenging learning how to limit the chaos that surfaces on set. But, once she was able to get her actors to focus, she said it was interesting to see how they would fall into character. “It was fun hearing everybody use their baby talk,” she said. “It was cute how some people created their character through their voice and their acting.”
The piece that Thom and Molencupp composed and performed for the judges illustrated the pain associate with losing a friend to a drunk-driving incident. The actors performed the duet and then worked on improving the piece following a critique by the judges. The pair returned to the stage to deliver a touching performance that initiated reaction from the judges and the audience, which ultimately earned them Most Improved Duet recognition
“Looking out seeing everybody crying, even the judges, made me sad and helped me stay in character,” Thom said.
Molencupp added, “I”ve never won an award for acting before and we wrote the duet, so I”m pretty proud of that.”
Penny Speight said the Lenaea Festival was a very inspiring experience. “The festival was very inspiring. It inspires you to do better,” she said. “It helps you put your own acting in perspective compared to other young actors out there.”
The drama club is facing financial difficulties this year. The club is in the process of preparing for its annual performance to be held in May. This year the young actors will showcase their talents in “Beauty and the Beast.” According to Lahr, production costs are very expensive and the students will be depending on the support of the community to bring the play to the stage.
“All of the budget cuts are flowing right down to all programs including the drama program. We really want to make this an amazing production and we are hoping between Drama Club fundraising and community support we will be able to pull this off,” Lahr said. “I have been investigating the cost to produce this play. For the performing rights alone, it”s going to be $1400. Costumes are incredibly expensive. I have contacted about five rental companies and the prices for costumes average between $2650 to $4700.
“The students really have their hearts set on performing this play so I hope everyone comes out to our Comedy Tragedy Night to help get them a little closer to making it happen,” Lahr added.
Comedy Tragedy Night will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18 in the campus multipurpose room. Admission price is $5 for adults, $4 for students and $3 for senior citizens and students with a Student Body Card. Anyone who would like to donate more is most welcomed to do so.
To make donations directly to the program, contact Tracy Lahr at 295-7806, 994-6447, ext. 2203 or 994-6471, ext. 2735.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
