On Thursday April 4, Friday April 5, and Saturday April 6 at 6:30 PM, the Poly Playhouse put on a play that students wrote where it brought them to life on stage.
On Thursday April 4 at 3:00PM, staged readings were read out loud.
This showing had 4 additional plays not included in the showings to give students the opportunity to read their plays out.
There was a total of 7 plays performed. Your Turn, was a lighthearted comedy. Where the setting is Candyland and one of the pawns, Red, is tired of following the rules. The director/play writer for this play was Gabby Kaiser consisting of characters Richard Reed as Red and Mara Stanford as Yellow on stage.
Full Cup, had Mika Dyo as director.
It starts off with a Barista, played by Angelina Taylor, as she observes the kind of people who come by her shop.
She seems to know what exactly is going on in her customers lives, new and old. And gives insight on the thoughts she has towards each of them, and their lives.
Cast members included in this play are Bella Morales as Everlee, Aasha Mclyn as Sabrina, Brian Aguilar as Vet Joe, Dane Camacho as Adam, and Kelvin Villegas as Tom.
In the first half there was about 4 plays performed, after a 10 minute intermission, is where the plays started to get really serious. One of these plays being Happy, Kaelah Franklin was behind the script writing and directing it.
The play stars two cast members, Aasha McLyn as Emily and Josiah Hon as Julian.
Two teens at age 19, living together. Julian experiences hard months with Emily, as she unravels down the spiral that is drug use.
Franklin has stated that her inspiration is actually based off of her mom and “her struggle that she went through addiction”.
Although the situation wasn’t exactly how it went down, it still was a bit similar as the one presented in the play.
Franklin also knew that she wanted a “simplistic kind of play” and at first was considering doing the play in silence. Instead she opted for it to have dialogue as it’s “more powerful with words”.
An honorable mention of one the plays, with a lot of dark humor would be The Rope to Hell, directed by none other then our High Life Staff Writer, John Henry Dy.
Not only did he direct and write the play, but also played a part in it as well.
His play was based on a salesman making a business selling rope, who people later then brought from him to kill themselves.
They were pushed to the edge, by none other than the salesman himself.
The salesman, played by Vincent Lach, was convinced by the Devil on his shoulders to get rid of the jerks of the world “for the greater good”.
The last play performed was The Interdimensionator, with Amanda Angeles being director and also being apart of the play as her character, Nora Webb. Recurring actors were Andy Martinez as Dr. Ed Edison, Gabe Burns as Homeless Dave, La Queen Malone as Little Girl, Ben Rifkin as Paraplegic Man, Deven Salinas as Billy Hill, Tristen Cousins as Mama, Mica Ramos as Carol.
The play consisted of Dr. Ed Edison and how he wants to make a big accomplishment for himself and the world. Dr. Ed Edison and Nora travel to different alternative universes through a portal, and each universe gets worse. In almost all the universes Dr. Ed Edison is a failure. Pretty soon he takes his normal life for granted and returns a changed man.
Andy Martinez said he had an “amazing time” and has a fun time making “new characters”. His inspiration for playing his character came from Doofenshmirtz and Flint Lockwood from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball. Martinez also stated that everyone should have a chance to “experience a show”, whether it’s during their years in high school or outside of it.
Other plays that took place during the showing was You Too, directed by Hannah Gardiner, about a date gone horribly wrong. Wishing Possible, directed by Josalynn Bass, was about an organization in charge of wishes in the children’s department, and they have a mission involving both a child and a mom.
