This coming weekend, the H.J. Cody Drama Department is headed to the Zone 4 West High School One Act Drama Festival at Lindsay Thurber in Red Deer. Six schools (Notre Dame, Hunting Hills, Lindsay Thurber, St. Joseph’s, Olds High, and H.J. Cody) will be performing 30 one act plays over three days to win one of two opportunities to perform at the Provincial Festival that will take place at RDC, May 9-11. Each show will be adjudicated by Karen Towsley, recently retired drama and musical theatre director and a well loved theatre artist, actor, improvisation specialist with the Canadian Improv games.
H.J. Cody has four play offerings for the festival this year.
“Electric Roses”, directed by Grade 12 Amanda Kreil, is a dramatic piece in which main character Russ sits in jail recounting the fateful events which led up to his imprisonment as his wife confides in her friend.
“A Game”, directed by Anthony Hocken, was written by Denis E. Noble. Noble has combined fantastical elements of the “theatre of the absurd” with realistic aspects of the traditional theatre to produce a play with a powerful impact. In the story, three women accept an invitation to take part in an experiment—a game in which a small room is divided into three equal areas—one for each person. As the game progresses, we see the drive that makes each human want to possess more than his neighbors—a drive that causes hatred and starts wars.
Cole Joseph, Grade 12, is directing “Stressed”. This play highlights the plight of the teenager and their stressful lives. For Alex, it’s school. For Josh, it’s his girlfriend. For Carmen, it’s dealing with her coach. And Mindy’s frustrated with her parents. Stress is driving this quartet crazy - so much so they can’t stop talking about it.
And finally, Holden Rauch is directing “Horror Movie 101”. A melodramatic play about the perils of horror movie characters and the troubles they find themselves in.
All shows will be presented at H.J. Cody’s Stephenson Performing Arts Centre on Mon., May 6 and Tues., May 7 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $10 or $5 for H.J. Students. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Come on out and support this awesome team of Theatre artists!