Davidson

Drama festival a learning experience for Davidson students

At left, actors Elena Nykiforuk and Jesselynne Palmer take the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach as they try to escape a pack of zombies in a scene from "10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse."
At left, actors Elena Nykiforuk and Jesselynne Palmer take the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach as they try to escape a pack of zombies in a scene from “10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.”

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — A weekend of drama was enjoyed at Davidson School as five one-act plays were presented in a high school festival.

Davidson hosted students from Hanley, Rosetown and Unity in the Saskatchewan Drama Association’s Region 6 Drama Festival on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18.

Arlene Low, who served as festival host co-ordinator, said the students did a terrific job of playing host to their competitors over the course of the festival.

“They welcomed the other schools, socialized, made new friends,” she said. “Everybody did their part to make it a successful and welcoming weekend.”

The plays were presented in two sessions, with an attendance of roughly 100 people at each session.

The festival began on Friday evening as Davidson’s senior drama club presented “THS PHNE 2.0: The Next Generation,” followed by Rosetown Central High School’s “Pressure” and Unity Composite High School’s “Desperate Housewives of Shakespeare.”

On Saturday afternoon, two more plays were presented: “One Giant Leap” by Hanley Composite School, and “10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse,” presented by Davidson’s junior drama club.

Serving as adjudicators were Joy Falk, a teacher in the Prairie South School Division with a background in theatre studies and arts education, and Bill Shiers, a former Saskatchewan Drama Association board member and director now based in Jacksonville, Fla.

Shiers was the front of house adjudicator, watching all that transpired onstage, while Falk kept an eye on all the backstage action.

Following their performances, each group was given the opportunity for a workshop with the adjudicators, who offered their praise and criticism, often having the students recreate certain scenes with a few changes.

An awards banquet concluded the festival on Saturday afternoon. While all of the plays were honoured with awards, Rosetown’s “Pressure” was selected the best overall production and will go on to compete in the provincial festival, coming up from May 7 to 9 at the University of Regina’s theatre department.

For the full story, check out the April 27 edition of The Davidson Leader.