A Road to Recovery: What happens now with school plays?

Have you started to wonder about what’s happening with school plays? Well, now I have an answer. Every year there would always be many new plays in the middle/high school. As the COVID-19 pandemic struck us all, our plays were unfortunately not able to happen. In response to the pandemic, people are trying different ways of doing things– just like what’s happening to school plays.

Our school Drama Club Director has decided that we have to use Zoom for any upcoming plays. Although it is sad to produce a play on Zoom, it is the safest option for now. The school play that just passed was Clue. Although it would have been a pleasure to see this play in the auditorium, it was still enjoyable to watch it in the comfort of your own home. The Drama Club has come up with many interesting and smart ways of doing things for the plays. For example, as I walked into the seventh grade classrooms on the week of the Clue rehearsals, I saw long black sheets that would be used as a background for when the actors were projected in the Zoom. This backdrop separates the actors from other people in the room, and is a smart way to still have props in the background as needed.

I did not participate in Clue, but I did participate in the summer play. Unfortunately, the summer play did not go on. But, I still got to see the behind-the-scenes of what goes into performing these plays. For instance, there are tons of songs with lots of notes and harmonies that have to be memorized. There is also a long process to get casted into the plays because you have to sing for an audition first, then you might get a callback and finally start to learn all of the songs and lines. I have seen all of the hard work that all the talented actors put into these plays and I hope you realize now, that having these plays go on is still important to a lot of the Carle Place community!