By Marne Cook
Weekly Intern
On Wednesday, March 7, students from Lopez Island School District participated in the opening performance of the annual Festival of One Act Plays at the Galley Restaurant and Lounge. Audience members enjoyed a meal while young actors and actresses put on performances worth seeing.
The night started out with a comical funeral scene. Anah-Kate Drahn painted the image of young girl mourning over the loss of her deceased hamster, Fluffy. Chloe Cunningham and Nora Zapalac played supporting friends trying to lift their friend’s spirit. Although Drahn has no desire to be helped, Cunningham and Zapalac successfully trick her into happiness once more.
Each scene got more humorous and enthralling as the evening moved on. Although a few lines were forgotten, the students never failed to recover quickly and continue the act with ease. Many scenes and situations were acted out on the stage; relationship challenges, dates with uniquely flawed people, waitresses with accents, and magical clicks and rings that manipulated time. Justin Merrifield, Brianne Swanson, Jessica Burton, Michael and Sarah Reeves, Chase Schober, Miriam Drahn, Gavin Goodrich, Maya Haber, Sam Heller, Elsa Lawrence, Fletcher Moore, Maggie Heard, Maya Lenygel, and Madrona Woolem were all participants of these stunning performances.
One act plays have been performed for the past eight years, with the guidance of Richard Carter and the help of many generous volunteers. Acts are chosen from various writers. However, this year, we were lucky enough to see one of the acts written by a few of Lopez’s own. Nate Drahn, Arlen Coiley and Matthew Haber wrote their own one act play and acted it out in the final performance.
Their one act play starts in a restaurant where three writers try to create a new play. Haber plays the most logical man, Coiley plays the Italian who is all about the romance and Drahn plays the easy-going guy who likes to bounce his ideas off his dog. Laughter filled the air as these young men racked their brains to think up the next big show. They, like the rest of the performers, truly radiated with talent.
