The all-county drama cast auditions were held in a competition setting at Cedar Ridge Friday, March 1. The drama club members from Orange and Cedar Ridge would go on stage and perform for their peers and both school’s drama teachers before being judged. The honors students, 4 from Cedar Ridge and 4 from Orange, were chosen by the opposite teacher so no conflict of interests arose.
Jared Taylor, the theater teacher at OHS, started this competition as a way to continue his legacy. “[Taylor] had [the competition] when he was in school and so he wanted to give the same opportunities to his students,” Peel said.
On the Orange Theatre website, Taylor said that creating an environment and a community for students was very important to him. “Ideally it will become less of just a class and more of [a] program. I want to have a lot more performances, a lot more chances for students to get involved, and to feel like they belong somewhere,” he said in a statement on the web page.
Peel is optimistic about the program. “I see it expanding past Orange County Schools, probably into Chapel Hill.”
She also is optimistic about the upcoming production of Taming of the Shrew. “It is the best Shakespeare play in the history of Shakespeare plays. [Lead character Katherine] is a shrew and [Katherine’s love interest Petruchio] is a donkey and their love is hysterical. Their love is more true than Romeo and Juliet’s love.”
The play, which the cast has been working on since mid-November, will run at approximately 2.5 hours long. Other leads include Morgan McCallum as Katherine’s sister Bianca, Luke Taylor as Petruchio, Nick Vassello as Horensio, and Jay Huskins as Lucentio. The play is about a difficult older sister who has to be married before the more desired one can marry, thus enticing the younger to try and marry off her older sister to a man perhaps more difficult than even the former.
Peel wants audiences to leave with appreciation of the play. “[The audience] will never understand how much work goes into [the play]. It receives leadership and vision. It requires the same passion and the same intellect that playing a sport does.”
Admission will be $6 for kids and $8 for adults at the door.
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