Photo Credit: Jared Taylor[/caption]Members of the Improvicons, an OHS improv troupe created near the end of fall in 2013, have big plans for next year. Run by theatre teacher Jared Taylor and captained by senior Anastasia Zitko, the troupe hopes to become bigger and perform more shows. Currently, it has performed at a Peace Club concert and PTSO variety show. It plans to perform at the theatre awards night as well.
Taylor summarized what members of the troupe do as “[trying] to create funny circumstances off the top of their head.” Improv, or improvisation, is the art of acting without having a script or lines. Improv actors bounce off each other to establish scenes, working together to make a plotline make sense.
The name of the Improvicons is based off of the Decepticons in the Transformers universe. The logo, a mask, is a modified version of the Decepticon mask.
The troupe practices every Friday afternoon in the theatre room. Members play two types of games to hone their skills -- short-form games and long-form games. Short-form games, the type used when they perform at events, let the audience interact more with the performers and shorten the length of the improv pieces. An example of a short-form game is the dating game, where actors pretending to be contestants in a dating game are given personalities or qualities, then another actor (the bachelor or bachelorette) asks questions in order to guess who they are. Long-form games let actors stay in character for longer periods of time, forcing them to improvise constantly. An example of a long-form game is Armando Diaz, where actors try to tell stories and keep elements of the stories consistent.
Zitko said that being captain means she is “kind of like the leader of the group.” She has no “special authority,” but is a “leader figure.” She helps organize events and plan activities. She joined the troupe “as soon as I knew there was going to be a new group in theatre” so she could improve her improvisation skills. She became leader after a vote.
Taylor created the Improvicons in order to “have a different sort of theatre group” and “to reach a different group of people.” Members auditioned near the end of November. He compared auditions to “auditioning for a play,” because current members will have to audition again to be members next year. He hopes that SMART Lunch will be approved because it will be “a lot better for” the troupe and it can “do shows during that time.”
Jay Huskins, a junior on the troupe, said he decided to join because “I always enjoy doing improv in class. I thought it would be really fun with a concentrated group.” Also, some of his friends were auditioning. He “would encourage people to go and see” the troupe, and said that “we’re planning to have a lot of the kinks worked out by next year.” He appreciates being in the troupe because it is “another way to get to know some of the people I already should have been friends with.” Learning improvisational skills has helped him outside of the troupe because it “keeps you quick on your feet.”
Luke Taylor, another junior and member of the troupe, echoed Huskins’ sentiments. He stated, “I’m pretty close to everyone that’s on improv. We’ve kind of become… a family. It won’t be the same next year. We’re going to lose a few, we probably won’t get the same group.” His favorite improv game is the dating game, because the audience likes it and “it’s more consistently funny than most of the games.” He is “really excited about Improvicons’ production next year.”
Zitko said she hopes, after she leaves, that “this group [can] keep improving and having more ideas... I just hope that kind of legacy can continue.”
Photo credit: Mia Frenduto and Hannah Phillips[/caption]Zombie Prom may star a dead character, but the show itself is quite the opposite. It’s lively and fun, and it reveals a never-before-seen side of many actors who are regulars on the OHS stage. For example, junior Luke Taylor, a staple in the Orange theatre program, is secretly an accomplished singer with a rich, deep voice. OHS Assistant Principal Will Okun has a voice-over cameo as a television announcer, and other teachers have roles on stage. Giving teachers a chance to act with students is a new idea that worked out successfully. Taylor hopes to give more teachers roles in upcoming plays. The performances are Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 2 and 7 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm in the auditorium. Tickets are $10.
The story follows the love story of Jonny Warner (Caleb Tolin) and Toffee (Anastasia Zitko). Jonny is an orphan who enrolls at Enrico Fermi High School, a school focused on nuclear power since it’s close to a plant. He is immediately targeted by the principal, Delilah Strict (Nunna Noe) for wearing a jacket with his name on it that’s missing the “h” often found in his name. He meets Toffee, falls in love, and the rest is history.
A few months later, the story picks up again. Toffee’s parents, played by teachers Alia Granger and Robert Griffin, tell her not to date Jonny. Under pressure, she breaks up with him and he kills himself by jumping into the nuclear waste dump near the school. Toffee is extremely upset that he’s dead, and after three weeks of mourning her friends start telling her to move on and find another date. The senior prom is coming up, and everyone but her is obsessed with it.
She doesn’t want to move on yet, however, and wishes that Jonny could come back. Her wish comes true one day, when Jonny pops out of the ground in front of her and tells her he came back from the dead because he heard her call out to him. Confused and upset, she rejects him, and he urges her to reconsider. Jonny also attempts to return to the school, but Strict won’t let him because she doesn’t want a zombie bringing disorder to her highly-regarded facility.
A secondary love story, that is tied to the first in a startling way revealed in the play’s final moments, stars Strict and Expose editor Eddie Flagrante (Luke Taylor). Eddie is a journalist who will do anything to get a story, and he jumps at the chance to cover Jonny’s struggles as a zombie. When he meets Strict, he realizes that she’s a former lover from high school. Both Taylor and Noe give standout performances, and their characters are two of the best characters in the play.
Noe described her character as the “zany, loud, tyrannical dictator of her school” who is “in charge” and “tells it like it is, or at least how she thinks it is.” She said Strict and Eddie have a “complicated” relationship. Taylor said that Eddie is a “flagrant” editor whose “main purpose at the start of the show is to get his stories.”
Director Jared Taylor thought Friday’s performance went “really, really well,” although the “first night always has its share of hiccups.” One of those hiccups were some mic problems that mainly affected Zitko. Lights and sound operator Jay Huskins said that “we will rectify any mistakes” for the Saturday and Sunday shows. Other technical aspects were brilliant, especially the lighting, and the sound problems were fixed by the second half of the show. Tolin said that “people should come to see the tech. The lighting for this show is so cool. There were thousands of dollars spent on the equipment that we are using and it shows.” Noe thought the first show was “amazing” and Assistant Director Maggie Cummings said that she believes “Nunna and Luke are two of the best characters in the entire show.” OHS alumna Katherine Kirkman called the show “very good.”
Taylor was “super excited” about the teacher involvement and he also emphasized that many aspects of the show were run by students, including the band, lights, sound, and make-up. Along with the aforementioned teacher cameos, English teacher Ashley Benners appeared as Sheila, a secretary.
Burgner welcomed students and parents to the ceremony, then Wimberly, the guest speaker, talked about why students should try their best in school.
“You are in a pivotal position in your life... Life doesn’t just happen to us if we are paying attention,” she said. Wimberly is not involved in Beta Club, but she was chosen as a speaker for multiple reasons.
“[First,] I teach most of the students inducted into Beta Club at some point and some of the senior Beta Club members suggested me. Second, I am the 2012-2013 Orange County Schools Teacher of the Year.” She believes that Beta Club is important because “it recognizes outstanding effort and because it gives those outstanding students a chance to be a part of service projects. We hope that getting involved in serving others will continue throughout their lifetime.”
Reid-Shaw, a senior and the current Beta Club president, described Beta Club. “[Beta Club is] an academic society that students are invited to join by being in the top ten percent of their class GPA-wise.” She said that students should join Beta Club because “it’s pretty inspiring to be part of something this large.” Beta Club does volunteer work, which is important because “volunteer hours are critical for your resume and getting into college.” Reid-Shaw also said that Bill Clinton and Diane Sawyer were Beta Club members.
Madison Chandler and Haley Moser read the names of the inductees. Each new member walked to the front of the room and shook club adviser Tina Walker’s hand, then accepted their pin and bumper sticker. Once every member was recognized, the inductees read the Beta Club pledge.
Megan Joyner, a sophomore who was inducted at the ceremony, said that she was excited to join because it will “look good on my college application and [it is a] good achievement.”
Rachel Shinnick, another sophomore inductee, stated that “[becoming a member is a] really big honor and I’m excited to be a part of [Beta Club].”
Anastasia Zitko, a junior who joined Beta Club last year, said that Beta Club is “great. [You] go out in the community and help people.”
Walker said that Beta Club members are “academically motivated and they are the future leaders in our community and society.” She will not know Beta Club’s plans for the 2013-14 school year until the year begins. “We will make decisions about next year at the beginning of the school year. Sometimes we do the same activities as the previous year and sometimes we take on something new. It is completely up to the members as to what we participate in.”
She thought that the ceremony went well. “The speakers did a fabulous job. The only thing is I wish there were more parents that would have attended, but this is out of my control.”
Tuesday, April 16, the PTSO held a variety show for the many talented students and teachers of Orange High School.
Other performers included Samantha Nance presenting four original pieces of poetry, Sankwon Reams doing a karate demonstration, and Asia Latta singing “Stay."
Jack Twomey-Kozak and Saiquan Clark rapped, after which Wyn Payton and Dominique Ruffin played a perfectly organized performance on the drums and didgeridoo. Finally, to finish up the night the lady varsity soccer team did their rendition of the Harlem Shake to many different pieces of music.
The acts did an amazing job keeping the audience’s attention and staying very relaxed on stage. Brooke White, a girl who sang and was on the Robotics team, commented, “Well, I was nervous at first, but when I got up on stage I just wanted to do [perform] more.”
All of the acts did a wonderful job entertaining the audience, and so did the Master of Ceremonies, Edward Marsh. Marsh provided very funny entertainment to the crowd between acts, even though he was interrupted many times by Colin Moore, who was a helping stagehand. He worked this right into the act and got a laugh out of it many times. When asked about his job of presenting the acts in the show he said, “I was nervous, but it turned out to be a blast and a great opportunity to help the PTSO raise money. I can only do so much and I like to help out. All I can give them is moral support.”
The OHS theatre group has been memorizing lines, setting the stage, making costumes, and much more these last few months. Jared Taylor, the theatre director, has worked hard to make sure this show has the perfect cast. The play contains thirteen main parts with seven helping parts.
Lucentio has two helpful servants that aid him throughout the play named Tranio (Rob Piscitelli) and Biondello (Meghan O’Shaughnessy). Petruchio (Luke Taylor) with his sidekick Grumio (Anastasia Zitko) enter at the end of the first act and Petruchio becomes a suitor of Katherine. Later, Lucentio’s father and not-so-real father enter to further complicate things. Vincentio is played by Lauren Asbury and fake Vincentio is played by Justin Fox. There are also six servants who appear throughout the play portrayed by Devon Allen, Kelsey Andrews, Sarah Leverette, Nycol Lyons, Hannah Phillips, and Indy Reid-Shaw.
Throughout the play there are many puns and examples of dramatic irony. Men are dressed as women and women are dressed as men. This entertaining play is meant to draw many laughs from the audience. The play runs from March 14 to 16 at 7 pm. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for adults.
pm, is startlingly moving and thought-provoking. It only lasts approximately 45 minutes, but it contains so much emotion and substance that audience members will not realize it was so short. I am not ashamed to admit that I shed a few tears watching this play, so emotion-sensitive viewers may want to bring a couple of tissues. While not explicitly violent, the nature of some of scenes are overwhelming, and as such, I would recommend that children who are elementary school age or younger not see it.I have to confess that I was not sure if I would enjoy this play before I saw it. I figured that a free play meant to combat school bullying would not be one of OHS’s best productions.
I was completely wrong.
From its confusing beginning to its horrifying ending, this play is different than anything that has been performed at OHS in years, if not decades. This is obvious in the play’s first scene. A boy named Josh (Robert Piscitelli) talks to Emily, Katie, Michael, Mattie, and Jesse, five students he killed (Anastasia Zitko, Sydney Defranco, Caleb Tolin, Maggie Cummings, and Lauren Asbury, respectively). They ask why he killed them, and he casually tells each of them why. One person was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.” Another had to die at some point, so he said she “might as well get it over with, right?” The six students then describe what holding a gun feels like, and how it empowers people.
One of the most unusual aspects about this play is that it does not follow a strict timeline. It starts out with Josh talking to the victims of the shooting, then jumps to Josh convincing his parents to let him buy a rifle when he was a child. Throughout the play, the ghosts of the teenagers that Josh killed often jump into the scene to comment on what’s happening or how the shooting has affected Josh’s life. The names of four school shootings- Jonesboro, Springfield, Paducah, and Columbine- are repeated many times during the play. Another phrase that is repeated multiple times in the play is, “So you make your face a mask. A mask that hides your face. A face that hides the pain. A pain that eats your heart. A heart nobody knows.” This is one of my favorite lines from the play because it shows how deep and powerful the play is.
Because the play does not follow a distinct timeline, it does not have a distinct ending. My only criticism of the play is that the ending is uneventful. It is just as strong as the rest of the play, so it is very powerful and interesting, but it does not stand out from the end of other scenes. If the end was not followed by a curtain call, I would not have known that the play was over.
Maggie Cummings said that the premiere of the play “went fine” and that people should come to see it because it is very “enlightening.”
Anastasia Zitko agreed, stating that it was “pretty good,” and people should come because it is “very emotional.” Mr. Taylor, the Director of the play and the theatre teacher, thought that there were a “few hiccups,” but there are “always a few hiccups on opening night.” He said that the “message is so important” and that the play is “powerful.”
I could not agree more with all of these statements. The play was emotional, moving, and heartbreaking. It made me think about violence and school shootings, and it reminded me how easily lives can end. The play is less than an hour long, and there is no price for admission, so anyone who is free Friday or Saturday night should come see it.