Drama 1 Puts On Production Of 'The Alibis'

The first semester’s Drama 1 class at John F. Kennedy High School put on their production of “The Alibis” on Friday Nov. 14. Throughout the entirety of the first semester, drama and art teacher Mrs. Dohm and the entire class worked to create this production along with doing many other theatre related projects.

This year, they were a little crunched on time because the scripts took longer to come in than expected. Also, the show this year is happening a few weeks earlier than in previous years. Mrs. Dohm mentioned that she scheduled it that way so that students were not worrying about finals at the same time as the show. On top of that, most other local theatre programs have their shows in December, which creates crossover with show dates. Mrs. Dohm decided to make JFK’s show a little bit earlier so that students from our school have the chance to see the productions that other schools put on and vice versa.

“I think I've really enjoyed all the games and things we do to get to know each other,” Harrison Prioste (9) stated. “It’s very fun.”

Lea Salinas (9) said that some of her favorite parts of being in drama class are, “learning about different people, theatre history, different playwrights and learning about the overall stage in general.”

“I love the enthusiasm of this crowd,” Mrs. Dohm commented. “They are absolutely excited to partake in the crazy blocking I put them in. I'm getting feedback from them about which scenes are their favorite and what they think is the funniest and that motivates me to work harder to make them laugh some more.”

The students in the class also seem to be bonding very well. Alfonso Lopez (9) said that his favorite part of drama class is, “honestly the community it builds. In a class full of people like-minded, I feel like it's a really good place to make friends.”

Salinas and Lopez are playing the lead roles of Casey and Warwick, respectively. “My experience playing a lead has been fantastic,” Lopez mentioned. “I felt that the cast has been very supportive of me and I feel like we've all been working very well together and it's been easy for me to memorize.”

“Despite everything that has gone against us, I think we are [ready],” Mrs. Dohm said. “We are almost completely done blocking and we’re two weeks away.”

“I feel pretty confident,” Salinas said on a similar note. “Most of my lines are getting memorized right now and blocking is going well.”

The students in the class generally said that they felt a combination of nervousness and excitement about performing.

“I feel like I'm very excited, but with every performance of course there's a bit of nervousness, but I feel like I'm very excited about it,” Lopez said.

“I think [the audience] can look forward to some good mystery action and some comedy,” Prioste concluded.

The show ended up having one of the best turnouts in Drama 1 history with the audience taking over all sides of the Round Room.

Photo by Anika Phair | Drama 1 students explore the world of performing arts.