During its first two decades, Lampman High School Theatre earned numerous provincial and regional accolades; and next year, as it enters its second, the company may be taking their act overseas.
“We've been nominated to apply to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival High School Showcase for 2016,” says drama director, Christine Branyik-Thornton. “A company has to be nominated by a theatre professional. We haven't been accepted yet, but it's an accolade just to be nominated.”
Lampman's high school drama program was nominated for the honour in January. The invitation to apply to the Edinburgh Fringe recognizes Lampman as one of the top high school programs in the United States and Canada. If selected, the company will be fundraising to represent North America's top high school theatre companies and will travel to Scotland in 2016.
“We'll know in May,” says Branyik-Thornton, who says that along with preparing a play to showcase, the company will be fundraising. “I don't want to get ahead of myself, but Edinburgh-if we go-will require us to fundraise.”
Staging plays while simultaneously fundraising is nothing new for the LHS company, and on Saturday, March 21, they staged and the two 15-minute plays they will take to the Region One Drama Festival, March 26 and 27 in Moosomin, with admission earmarked for the group's travel.
The first play, Marco Ramirez's “Chester Who Painted the World Purple” is the touching story of a boy and his grandfather, who is slowly going blind and can only see the colour purple. In an effort to help his beloved Abuelo (Sam Paxman), grandson Chester (Cassidy Roy) decides to paint the world purple-including the turf at their city's stadium-so his grandfather can watch “the big game” on television.
Adrianna Raynard's assured narration made it easy to suspend disbelief as Chester carried out his magical mission. Both Cassidy Roy as Chester and Samantha Paxman as Abuelo formed a believable and heartrending bond as grandson and grandfather, whose love transcends the losses that old age can bring. Donavon Andrews was convincing as the curious hardware clerk selling gallons of purple paint, and Carter Branyik-Thornton's Boston accent was pitch perfect.
The play's crew made the production a standout. Although the set was minimal-allowing the audience to focus on the actors and their characters' emotional journey, the use of purple spotlights, a paintbrush that borrowed a technique from rhythmic gymnastics, and the sound effects that accompany Chester on his long jouney to the stadium-a trip that includes bus, subway, and elevator rides, as well a a near-miss by an ice-cream truck, were exceptional.
Stage manager and lighting board operator, Darian Freeden, with sound by K'Lyn Duttenhoffer-along with spotlight operators Tara Fleck and Taylor Grimes were as much a part of the drama on stage as the actors, while backstage manager, Hannah Stinson kept the action moving flawlessly.
The second showcase was an irreverent comedy, “Drugs Are Bad”, by Jonathan Rand. In this play, Raynard, Roy, and Paxman demonstrate their confidence and comedic timing, as they play a straightlaced son (Paxman) saddled with parents who (seemingly) embrace a lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
As the trio's atypical parent-teen conflict plays out, all is not what it seems. However, Paxman's display of horror and disgust at his embarrassing parents who embrace all things antisocial is comedically convincing, as are Raynard and Roy's portrayals of the wayward Delores and Harold.
Director Branyik-Thornton says the Lampman company prides itself on its “collective program.”
“We all read many, many plays before we get together as a group to decide what we will perform,” she says. “We usually pick a play that's the maximum for competition, which is 53 minutes. This year, with these two 15 minute plays, we liked the plays, so that's why we chose them.”
“We base our choices on the depth and the breadth of the play(s), and we spent as much time rehearsing these plays, as we would one that's almost an hour long.”
“We want it to ring true for ourselves and our audience.”
