Prince Albert Collegiate Institute (PACI) will be hosting the Saskatchewan Drama Association Region 7 Drama Festival beginning on April 11 and featuring the school’s own production.
The Play is called “Nobody Heard Me Cry” by Vern Harden and is co-directed by students Nesslin McDonald and Daniel Hazelwood, with principal Dave Lokinger as supervising teacher.
Lokinger said that the two directors have been doing excellent work and he only takes the title of producer.
“These two have done such an amazing job of reading the script, making the script work, working with really challenging conditions with actors,” Lokinger said.
“For me, personally, I have learned so much from watching these two they absolutely set their egos aside. Their priority is the show and the play, and they have worked seamlessly together.”
Lokinger said that he was suspicious of the idea of co-directors until the pair convinced him otherwise.
“They’ve stayed absolutely true to their vision and I think this show is going to be great,” he said. “I think, like any director, they’re thinking of what it could have been, but they’re really relishing in what it is right now.”
None of the actors and directors have competed at regionals, with the majority of actors never having appeared on stage.
McDonald has had an excellent time learning and working with the actors and learning how to direct with a co-director. She is impressed with how well Hazelwood’s ideas have fused with her own.
“It’s just it’s so amazing to see all the small little details and twists you throw in together into a performance and being a part of a performance that is really going to impact others,” McDonald said.
Hazelwood said that the experience has been a rewarding one.
“It’s been challenging yet rewarding seeing all these actors find their strengths and their weaknesses and putting it all on stage and just making a really good finished product out of it all. It’s been a really good experience for everyone involved, both us as directors and them as actors.”
McDonald said she was given the material last school year but the production could not happen because of the STF withdrawal from extracurricular activities.
This year, Lokinger suggested that they tackle the play for Regionals.
“It’s always been kind of a goal of mine at this school to go to Regionals,” McDonald said. “I’ve been here since Grade 9 and finally, to be able to get to go to Regionals and work on such an amazing script, it’s just it’s incredible.”
Hazelwood was not on board originally for the production because the story deals with difficult subject matter. He said the play deals with a main character named Justin who struggles with depression and at the end of the play commits suicide.
“His depression is negligible at the beginning of the play, but it’s made much worse by around the halfway point when his father dies and multiple things in his life start to change,” Hazelwood said.
Justin is played by Theron Carle in the play. The play comes with a warning on subject matter in the program.
“It’s really about overcoming difficult problems in life, and the way everyone adjusts to it and how everyone’s life changes with this drastic change that he’s going through. It’s a really heavy, deep play,” Hazelwood said.
McDonald said the challenge of the play was that it was one of the first really dramatic productions that the drama department has tackled.
“I would say it was a struggle because in the past few years we’ve done very comedic plays and funny and light-hearted plays,” she said. “We haven’t done a play that was this hard hitting since she used my first play in Grade 9.
“This is the first time we’ve actually taken a play that is meant to be a dramatic play. It’s meant to be sad. It’s meant to make you feel emotions.”
Lokinger said that he is proud of McDonald and Hazelwood for recognizing the emotion in the play and developing methods for rehearsal to deal with that.
“They have put in place a couple of rituals that they do,” he explained. “They light a candle at the start of the rehearsal and then they become characters. One of the actors gets to blow out the candle at the end and then they get to walk away.”
They have also used PACI Outreach Worker Ashley Kosolowsky.
“She’s a counsellor, so she is just present just to make sure because you never know what it could potentially trigger, right,” Lokinger said. “Our directors have been so sensitive to the subject matter,” Lokinger said.
“I would say that all of our actors have learned a lot about themselves and a lot about like what to look for and how to be a good friend by just being through this process.”
McDonald said that hosting drama regionals is a dream come true as a way to showcase the talent at PACI.
“(It lets) more people see the talent that will come out of a small school such as this,” McDonald said. “We’re not like St. Mary’s or Carlton. We don’t need these big, big musicals, but we love to put on a nice little show that everyone can just get really connected into.”
Hazelwood said that having regionals at PACI was also a great thing.
“This is the first time that either of us have had regionals happen at PACI and it’s honestly kind of scary thinking that we’re not only going to have to perform this, but we’re going to have to be up against two other schools. I think that fear really helped us push to make this play better and hopefully it’s pushing our actors to be, well, better actors.”
Other schools in the regionals are WP Sandin from Shellbrook and LP Miller Comprehensive Collegiate from Nipawin. Sandin is presenting The Hysterical History of Cleopatra and LP Miller is presenting Unmasked.
Lokinger said the day will start at 9 a.m. with each play having a technical rehearsal.
“There’s a backstage adjudicator that’s watching how we’re doing things, making sure we’re doing things correctly,” he explained.
The front of house adjudicator is Michael Koops and the back of house adjudicator is Adrianne (AJ) Henry.
Doors open at 5:45 p.m. on Friday and performances begin at 6 p.m. sharp with ‘Nobody Heard me Cry’ by PACI followed by ‘The Hysterical History of Cleopatra’ and then ‘Unmasked.’
Following the performance actors will be able to relax as Off the Cuff Entertainment will be doing an improv workshop. The next morning there will be workshops with the two adjudicators to refine the performances. Saturday will conclude with the awards.
The PACI production is also having a public performance on May 5 at 7 p.m. in the PACI gym.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
