Ridgewood Drama Club

All done!

2010-05-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Whew! Drama Club has finally wrapped up its long season with Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Overall it was well recieved and well attended - we actually did better with attendance than last year's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Maybe R&J next year? Who knows, we'll just have to wait and see.

As we wrap up our year, remember current club memebrs that the annual Drama Club Banquet and Thespian Induction is on Tuesday, May 25.

Thanks to everyone for all their support and generosity this year.

Hey, check this out:
New Documentary on Shakespeare!

Drama Spanks GI!

2010-03-23T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ridgewood placed 5th in a competition of nine in this year's Group Interpretation Sectional. If that doesn't sound impressive, think about this: Ridgewood has a student population of 936 students. The median size of the schools that placed 6-9 was 1,740 (twice as large) and the median size of the school that placed 1-4 was 2,652 (nearly three times as large). So, yes, Ridgewood Drama did very, very well. Congrats are in order for two of our cast members, Justeeny Marszalek and Tom VanCalbergh for receiving all-sectional medals. Tom was one of only two students out of the 116 competitors to receive all five judges' nominations.

Adding to the excitement of competition this year was the fact that the cast actually got to meet the author of the play, Mr. Jake Wizner. He watched a special preview of the show a week before we performed for English classes. When the author likes what you've done with his work, nothing else really matters.

On a final note, Mr. Smith would like to add that the entire cast of Spanking Shakespeare did an outstanding job and performed their very best show of all - and that made all the difference.

Thanks to all students, faculty, parents, friends, and alumni who supported us!

Theatre Festival

2010-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Seventeen. That's the number of students who went to Theatre Festival at Illinois State this year. We all had a great time. Memorable moments included "learning that subtext can change the meaning of any line," "Playback theatre was AMAZING!!! It taught us that a performer needs to use effective communication, his/her intuition, have trust and be creative in order to bring a random story to life. It was the highlight of my trip" "Urinetown was soooooo funny!" "The Sparrow was the most artistic & touching high school performance I've ever seen."

We were a little worried that we wouldn't be able to make it down to festival this year with all of the bad weather, and a few schools did end up not attending, but we were careful and made it safe and sound. As usual the weather was cold, but once in a workshop or at a show you warmed up quickly.

We made a ton of new friends and are happy to share what we learned with the rest of RHS Drama.

Up next, Group Interpretation rehearsals are starting! This year's script is based off of Jake Wizner's book Spanking Shakespeare". It's sure to a ton of fun.

Ridgewood students get medieval for musical :: News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Norridge and Harwood Heights News

2009-11-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

RHS Drama in the news:

Ridgewood students get medieval for musical :: News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Norridge and Harwood Heights News

From TOTS to Musical

2009-11-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! Four-Hundred and Eighty Pounds of Food! That's the amount collected during the annual Trick-or-Treat and Haunted Housed to Scare Away Hunger collected this year. All items were donated to our local Salvation Army's food pantry. They were especially thankful for the tote bags that were donated to help families more easily carry away items and to have a recycable bag. Great job to all Drama Club Members and Thespians.

It's musical time! On Thursday, Friday and Saturday of November 12-13 at 7PM, our Drama Club and Thespian Troupe 6662 will present Once Upon a Mattress. It's a delightful comedy about the true story of the "Princess and the Pea" children's tale. It's fun for the whole family, so invite eveyrone to attend!

Drama Fall Update

2009-10-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's been a busy year so far. We started the year with both feet runing. Fall One Acts was a great way to get many, many people invovled with RHS Drama and quickly. We had our biggest turnout to date with 32 students auditioning for parts. Fortunately we were able to cast every single person that auditioned. On September 19th we presented six One-Acts! Due to great advertising, as well as the sheer number of students involved, we had a great turnout and for the first time ever we actuall recovered the cost of the shows! Kudos to a job well done for everyone involved.

We also had a great turnout for this year's musical Once Upon a Mattress. We're busy with rehearsals, singing, dancing and acting and preparing for a fun show. We also have a lot of people involved with crew this year.

Theatre Festival is not until January, but we had to have a committment from everyone attending early. We have 17 students attending this year which means we'll need to take two vans! We havn't had to do that in several years. Festival is going to be a great time!

Boo! Comming up next will be our annual TOTS and Haunted House community services. We'll begin planning and will come together on Saturday, October 31st to go trick-or-treating - instead of collecting candy however, we'll be collecting canned and dried goods to donate to the Norridge Salvation Army's food pantry.

Lots going and on with Drama this year, but we have a lot of student invovlement.

We think it's going to be a great year for Drama!

Go Will, Go!

2009-04-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

We are fully underway in our rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rehearsals are much different this time as we prepare to perform in the round as we bring the audience out of the auditorium house and sit them on the stage.

I’ve added links to various Will friendly sites that offer additional information for fans and student actors. Of particular note is the RSC site. There they offer a wonderful insight into the world of the play and the various choices and approaches that can be made. In our production we’ve decided to place the Athenians in the 1920’s and allow the fairies to transcend time and place.

In addition to preparing Midsummer, we’ve also decided to add several “green” shows to the mix. A “green show” typically is performed on the “green” outside in front of the theatre. We’ll be performing one such show outside (weather permitting) and we hope to advertise so that friends and families can bring a blanket and picnic to enjoy some humorous Shakespeare for free. Two more such shows will be for the benefit of the paying audience prior to the 7PM start time and one more will be performed during intermission.

This is an exciting end to our production year and we look forward to selling out the show each night as we limit our seating to just 100 patrons per night. Act well your parts!

Group Interpretation Update

2009-03-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

Our talented and hard working troupe took our show Antigone for the sectional competition in Huntley. We were disappointed with the results, but it does not matter. The tremendous talent, dedication, and heart of the Ridgewood High School Drama Troupe is more precious than any award that could ever be devised. Kudos to the cast and a big thanks to everyone who supported us and helped us to grow along the way.

We will be holding auditions for A Midsummer Night's Dream the Tuesday and Wednesday after spring break. We're looking forward to getting started and Mr. Smith has some interesting ideas for the show.

Thanks for your continued support!

From Sophocles to Shakespeare!

2009-03-03T06:14:00.001-08:00

Beware the Ides of March! You just have to love Caesar, you just do. Hello drama folk. The end of the year, though it only be March, is fast approaching. I have a few items to update you on. First, sectional is later this year than usual, which pushes a few of our dates back. I updated our Drama Club page that's located on our school's website: http://www.ridgenet.org/page.php?page=drama-club to reflect that.

First, we'll be performing Antigone for the school on Tuesday, March 17th. Call it the luck of the Irish. We'll perform for family and friends the next night at 7PM on the 18th.

It's been a blast preparing for this performance. It's been "let's try this," to "nope - doesn't work, let's try this instead." I'm looking forward to getting it ready now for competition as we take the next couple of weeks to polish it.

Looking forward to our spring production, I've decided to direct A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and an adaptation by Ken Womble. It's shorter than the original, but I feel that it retains much of what people love about this play. If you haven't read it, please stop by my office and pick up a copy before auditions that are slated for March 30 and 31.

Ode to Comedy Night

2009-02-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

Alas, poor Comedy Night, close companion to pranks and laughter, died last night at approximately 7:55PM in the auditorium. Despite a valiant effort to keep the joyous activity alive, it passed on with one final chuckle. The once promising evening full of smiles and belly aches had taken it's final hee-haw. Those of us who loved to laugh, especially when we were being laughed at, will miss comedy night and its ticklish ways, especially on cold February nights in the bleakest of winters. But alas, it is to be no more. Just like Elvis, the laughter that was Comedy Night has left the building for the last time.

Festival!

2009-01-23T07:09:00.001-08:00

We attended IHSTF on January 8, 9 & 10, 2009. It was an awesome experience this year. The opening ceremony performance was much different than last year's. This year a theatre group that specializes in 7 minute plays performed several. The content of the plays was humorous, satirical, moving and disturbing. Overall, we thought it was a unique theatrical experience that showcased how theatre can move people's emotions, even in just 7 minutes.

Friday was a picture perfect day. The sun was out and the temperature only went up as the day grew longer. A day of fun activities in workshops and performances. Janina had the opportunity to audition for several universities and was asked to talk to at least eight. We ended the day by watching the All-State production of Hairspray! Wow! What a performance. Suppose it helps that you have an auditorium full of overly-enthusiastic patrons. Most attended the dance after the show.

Saturday morning was a much different weather day. As it apparently snowed, snowed and snowed some more in Chicago, we started the day with a solid sheet of ice everywhere. Luckily no one was seriously injured and we managed to survive the day with more workshops and more shows. By 2:30 we were ready to go and listened in on the news reports that Chicago was snowed in. We saw nothing in the way of significant snow until we arrived back into the city.

All in all what a great experience. We all had a great time and a good trip. We look forward to sharing more with members of drama club and looking forward all ready to next year's fest - maybe we'll see some RHS students in the All-State!

Bye, Bye Birdie!

2008-11-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Join us & tell your families and friends to join us on November 6, 7, and 8 at 7PM for a Bye, Bye Birdie!

The fall musical is Bye, Bye Birdie by Michael Stewart, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams and is being produced with permission from Tams-Witmark. Bye, Bye Birdie will run for three nights only in Ridgewood’s Frances Bernero Auditorium on November 6, 7, 8 at 7PM. Tickets, priced at $3 for students, children and senior citizens and $5 for adults, are available at the door each night of the show.

The story is a charming parody of a teen idolized rock n’ roll star of the 1950’s who has just been drafted into the army. As the nation of screaming teenage girls prepare to say their goodbyes, Conrad Birdie’s (Robert Putyra) record producer Albert Peterson (Tom VanCalbergh) worries that he won’t be able to pay off Conrad’s contract. Just to make matters worse, Albert’s longtime faithful secretary Rose Alvarez (Janina Vargas) has decided to quit unless Albert gives up the record company and marries her. To help make the choice “easier” for Albert, Rose devises a sure-fire plan that will give Conrad that one last hit before he goes into the army, and allow Albert to give up the record company. Conrad’s “One Last Kiss” will be with a member of his fan club chosen at random in Sweet Apple Ohio. The only problem however is that Kim MacAfee (Justeeny Marszalek), the girl Conrad is supposed to kiss, has just accepted to be Hugo Peabody’s (David Gibellin) steady.

The memorable numbers of Bye, Bye Birdie include “Put on a Happy Face,” “Talk to Me” and “Kids”. For more information call Assistant Director Jen Snyder at 708-456-4242.

BOO!

2008-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

We'll be haunting our way to fighting hunger on Saturday, October 25th at 6:00 PM in Ridgewood’s Frances Bernero Auditorium as we take your canned or dried preservatives, walk you through a spooky haunted experience and fight hunger. All the canned and dried preservatives you bring in are donated to our local Salvation Army. It's a great cause and we hope you'll join us.

We'll be doing it again on Halloween this year. We'll be going door to door collecting canned and dried preservatives that will all be donated to the local Salvation Army. Remember to tell your neighbors and leave a bag with TOTS on it for us to pick up. See you on Halloween!

RHS Drama!

2008-09-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome drama club members. We hope to utilize this blog as a method of communication so that you can always see what's going on and how you can be a part of drama even when you're not there! So leave your comments and we'll start putting up our news and events each week.

Stay dramatic!