The room goes dark, a spotlight suddenly shines to the edge of the aisle. A silhouette strolls down and comes to the stage.
Pause.
They introduce themself as a reporter reporting the story of James and the Giant Peach.
This is the opening scene for DHS drama’s fall production. The play is based on the classic story by Road Dahl. Centered around seven year old boy, James Trotter, who travels the world in a giant peach, but he encounters many difficulties on his journey. He makes friends with insects and escapes the horror of his aunts. This production took place at Central Auditorium on Oct. 15-17.
Each year the theatre switches between horror, children’s, classic, and contemporary plays, to provide as much variety and interest as possible. This year’s children’s show was chosen to show a support system that is not always family, along with the ability to make new connections with the people surrounding them.
“It is a great way to branch out and meet new people,” sophomore Maycie Lillard said. “It is a very nice and happy environment.”
Lillard is the deck chief for the crew. She helps the cast and crew stay organized while the stage managers are busy.
“It helps me with skills, like being coordinated and being put together,” Lillard said.
She believes that anyone should join theater, even if they haven’t done it before, saying that it is a great way to make new friends.
“I’ve learned more about characterization and how to present my acting,” freshman Natalie Hufford said.
Hufford thinks that theater is a good way to express oneself and put oneself out there. She views the theater as an inclusive environment to be a part of. Hufford a part of the cast and plays Aunt Sponge, a mean lady who treats James poorly. She also plays “Number One”, a sailors assistant.
“I want [the cast and crew] to be able to look back on this and see a really nice group of people that they can go to,” sophomore Adelaide Sledz said.
Sledz emphasizes a strong connection among the members of theater in order to make sure that people feel valued and to overall work well with each other. Sledz is a part of the cast and plays the role of Ms. Spider.
“She portrays herself as kind of scary,” Sledz said. “Like a spider, overall, she has a very scary atmosphere, but she’s also very motherly towards pretty much everyone in the cast.”
To get into the character of Ms. Spider, Sledz said she crochets because Ms. Spider likes to crochet in the play.
“A lot of people pretend to be in their character before the production starts,” Lillard said. “When a line comes up naturally in speech everyone will pause the conversation to continue with the lines for a moment, before continuing the previous conversation.”
Lillard, Hufford and Sledz all agree that the theater group as a whole is an amazing experience to be a part of and that they recommend joining. They all have had a nice experience and plan to continue to do theater, whether that involves being onstage or backstage.
James and the Giant Peach emphasizes the idea of friendship and making connections, just like Jack did when he met the insects in the peach. This production has led to the ability of making new friends. This aspect has been emphasized in the theater environment according to Sledz, Lillard, and Huffered.
