Sacred Heart junior high students stage first production

By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

What's harder -- playing football or acting in a play?

For Matt McKee, getting knocked around in a football game is much easier than standing on a stage in front of an audience.

"In football, you don't have to memorize lines," said McKee, 12, a seventh-grader at Sacred Heart Junior-Senior High School, 234 E. Cloud.

That doesn't mean McKee doesn't enjoy being an actor. In fact, he's playing the lead role in a comic one-act play called "This is a Test," the first ever junior high school play production at Sacred Heart.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Sacred Heart gymnasium.

The play focuses on Alan, played by McKee, a young student who is extremely anxious about taking a midterm test. Everything that can go wrong for Alan does, from losing study sheets and notes to being distracted by his active imagination and thoughts (brought to life by three young actresses hovering behind him).

Alan chatters constantly in a stream of anxiety and frustration, which required McKee to memorize dozens of lines.

The lines didn't come easily, but the budding actor said he'd do it again.

"It's been much easier once I knew what everyone else had to do," he said. "Now I want to keep doing it."

The production, both onstage and behind the scenes, has been student driven from the outset, said Eileen Thibault, volunteer director.

About 26 Sacred Heart students ranging in age from 12 to 16 memorized lines, built sets, constructed costumes, gathered props, operated light and sound systems and composed publicity releases and programs.

"This is entirely their thing," said Thibault, who has a theater degree from the former Marymount College. Thibault's daughter Tracie is a Sacred Heart seventh-grader and cast member.

While Sacred Heart high school students usually stage a play or musical production each year, Thibault thought it was important to give junior high students an opportunity to create their own production, even though many had no previous stage experience.

"I wanted to start them out early," she said. "Sometimes Sacred Heart loses kids to South and Central (high schools) because they don't have programs here the way they do there."

Thibault told parents that the experience of putting on a play would teach the students important life skills.

"If you're articulate, if you learn to express yourself, it can take you a long way in life," she said.

However, getting 26 junior high students to commit to a play production, even a 30 minute one-act play, wasn't easy. Most of the students are involved in after school sports activities and music programs, so Thibault had to devise a flexible rehearsal schedule.

Despite this, cast and crew members made time to attend rehearsals and worked hard, Thibault said.

"They came all hours of the day to practice, even days when we didn't have school," she said. "We practiced in classrooms or anywhere else we could find a place."

Eighth-grader Nicole Stack, 14, didn't mind the complicated rehearsal schedule.

"The earlier you get started, the better you'll be," said Stack, who plays the role of the teacher in the production. "Hopefully we can do bigger plays in the future."

Sacred Heart sophomore Emily Williams, assistant director, said a junior high production definitely was needed.

"When they can start younger, it gives them good experience for high school," said Williams, 16, who has been in several productions, including "Godspell" at Sacred Heart and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "A Chorus Line" at Salina Community Theatre.

Perhaps the best result of the experience, Thibault said, has been the bond the students formed during the rehearsal process.

"They all became really enthused about this and wanted to do a good job," she said. "They have different interests and may not ever have hung out together before, but they're all together now."

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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says....
Thank you to Eileen Thibault and students of Sacred Heart Jr/Sr High for an EXCELLTENT performance. My family really enjoyed the show.
3/30/2009

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