They came. They tried. They succeeded.
W.L. Seaton Secondary School's 27th Street Theatre troupe attended, for the first time ever, the B.C. National Theatre School Dramafest in New Westminster May 2-5. They were among 11 groups who presented a play in front of adjudicators.
Seaton won the whole festival for its performance of the comedy How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying.
"The reaction from the students has been absolutely extraordinary," said teacher/director Lana O'Brien. "It has been so much fun to do straight-up comedy. We literally laugh our heads off every single day."
How To Succeed in High School Without Really Trying is the second of three, one-act plays from playwright Jonathan Rand called Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen which 27th Street Theatre will present nightly at 7 p.m. in the Seaton theatre May 26-31.
The 27th Street Theatre group has been in rehearsal for Triple F, which features a 33-member ensemble cast and six crew members working off-stage, since February.
"Comedy is really hard, like to do comedy well is very challenging," said O'Brien. "And these kids are totally rising to that challenge. Some of them are natural comics and the other kids are learning comic timing."
What the cast has learned blew away the adjudicator in New Westminster, who wondered if O'Brien put out a national casting call for Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen, and got the best from across Canada for the roles.
"She just couldn't believe so many kids had such a level of polish, professionalism, and talent on the stage," said O'Brien. "She was also incredibly impressed by the costume design, done by one of our students, Skye Calvert."
So in Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen, the winning one-act play, How to Succeed in High School..., is sandwiched between the first and third plays: Check Please, and Check Please, Take 2.
Everything is ensemble, and O'Brien has put together two casts – the denim cast, and the burlap cast, based on costume design – which is all upcycled denim pieces.
"So Check Please, and Check Please, Take 2 would be done by, say, the denim cast, and the burlap cast does the middle piece," said O'Brien. "Then, on alternating nights, that flips. So every kid has learned multiple roles, and they flip in and out of those roles given whatever night they're performing. Every kid is on stage every night."
Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen, said O'Brien, is a collection of three short comedic plays that create a hilarious one-act play fit for the whole family. However, those audience members who have experienced high school and the dating scene as a single person, will certainly get the most fun out of this romp through a series of quirky, strange, and compelling characters.
Kael McIntyre and Silas Langner are a pair of Grade 12 students in the ensemble cast.
McIntyre said Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen is different than any show she's ever been a part of with 27th Street Theatre. Playing seven different roles, she said, is a little intimidating.
"There's so many things that you need to do to kind of make sure the characters are all different from each other, especially when you're playing, you know, little, tiny roles. You still want them to pop and be different," said McIntyre, adding the last time 27th Street Theatre did comedy, "it wasn't really a comedy," and "my character was the only one who wasn't funny."
The thought of doing three, one-act plays has Langner excited.
"I've always really wanted to do something like this with theatre," he said. "We've done a lot of great shows since I've been here, and we've done a lot of musicals and heavier plays, but they're harder to do obviously."
Asked about how he thought the audience will react, Langner did not hesitate.
"I think they'll really like it," he said. "I think it's something that hasn't happened in Vernon for awhile, just straight-up comedy, especially from us. So I'm pretty excited."
Flirts, Fails, and Freshmen runs May 26-31, nightly at 7 p.m., at W.L. Seaton Secondary School's 27th Street Theatre. Tickets are available at ticketseller.ca or by calling 250-549-SHOW (7469).
