Annual One-Acts
Beyond the stress of the school year coming to an end and students moving off to college or moving off to higher classes, there is a glimmer of happiness shining from the Drama Department: The Las Lomas One Acts. Since one of the plays was written and directed by a student, and another was directed and cut by a student, these one acts are truly special. “There’s four of them: Bound, To The Moon, Bench, a short one act written and directed by Colette Shaw… and the last one is a one act version of The Laramie Project, directed and cut by Hali Loyd,” said drama teacher Mr. Hensley.
Bound
Bound, directed by Julia Toon, is based on a 90’s movie of the same name. It’s “... a movie from the 90’s about a mob, and a lesbian,” said Hensley.
Bench
The Bench, written and directed by Colette Shaw, is about the randomized interactions that random people have with each other. These one acts have became a yearly tradition for the school, being loved and adored by all the students that see them. “it’s everything I teach, all together” said Hensley when asked why the one acts have become an annual tradition. The one acts are truly a big part of LL Drama and let’s hope they never die out.
The Laramie Projecct
LGBT+ history has never been pretty; the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard on October 6th, 1998 is only one example. Following Shepard’s death, Senior Hali Loyd chose to bring Matthew Shepard’s legacy to stage through Moises Kaufman’s play The Laramie Project. Kaufman, with members of the Tectonic Theater Company, conducted hundreds of interviews with those affected or involved with Matthew Shepard’s death.
To The Moon
Video games have always been used as a unique form of storytelling through entertainment. At its core, theatre has the same purpose: story telling. So, what happens when you combine the two? You get senior Brandon Lawrence’s adaptation of Freebird Games’s adventure game To The Moon, which focuses on two scientists with the ability to change people’s memories in order to fulfill their life wishes. In this specific instance, the two scientists make an attempt to grant a dying old man’s wish of going to the moon. Lawrence compares the story to the renowned television series The Twilight Zone, as well as the Netflix series Black Mirror: “They show the impossible, yet still somewhat possible ideas and explores them while also showing the impact on people [and] the dark or light side of humanity.”
