Drama Final Scene Night was filled with multiple scenes from many different sources such as Broadway musicals, novels, and even movies.

Theater Arts Teacher Sara Noah explained the preparation process Drama students go through to critique their scenes, eventually used as their final project in the class.

Rising Senior Aydan Rossovich explained a little bit about what Final Scene Night was and her experience.

“Final Scene Night is the final for drama where each student performs a scene chosen for them by Mrs. Noah,” she said. “You are usually doing this with a partner. It’s stressful to learn them in the time given and to perform them especially if you’ve never done so before, [but] these scenes were quite fun to put on and I would love to do it again.”

Mrs. Noah described why the class does Scene Night and some information about the Theater Arts class.

“Students begin specifically preparing for Drama Final Scene Night about a month ahead of time,” she said. “… students analyze their scripts using acting techniques such as beats, actions, and intentions. They also complete a detailed Character Biography for their character which includes background information, detailed analysis of the character’s relationships in the scene, and what the character and setting would look like.”

Mrs. Noah said that she ultimately is the decision-maker for who gets which scene, but she explained how scenes get chosen and what leads her to choose actors for each scene.

“We read lots of scenes in class with students taking a variety of parts,” she said. “I choose the scenes initially, and then the class decides which scenes would be most fun to be included in scene night. We then have several days of auditions, with all students reading a variety of scenes. Ultimately, I decide who plays in what scene for the final.”

Theater Arts students shed some light on their perspective on the overall performance of the scene.

“I thought it was loads of fun, and I felt lucky to be in such an exceptional group of actors,” said Jordan Moore, a then sophomore now going into her junior year. “I think we all did a decent job of staying on schedule in terms of memorizing lines and working on blocking, so I wasn’t too stressed.”

Shane Preis, currently headed into his sophomore year, explained how hard the students worked to improve their scenes and the stress he felt it brought to him.

“We rehearsed over and over, said our lines back to back, drew out diagrams for blocking, and drew notes in our scripts for better improvement,” Preis said. “It’s a lot of socializing in class and getting to know people better, and it is very stressful and it is so much work before the show.”

Mrs. Noah said that she wanted to emphasize that this was the main and sometimes only opportunity for students in Drama to perform.

“Theater Arts is a performing arts class,” she said. “… [but] contrary to some peoples’ understanding, the Theater Arts class is NOT the cast of the shows performed at school. The Theater Arts class students are not automatically in the cast of our shows at Bear River, which are an extracurricular activity open to ALL students at the school.”

She went on to explain what the plans are for next year’s school musical and play.

“Shameless plug,” Mrs. Noah said. “Next year’s extracurricular shows (open to ALL singers, actors, dancers, and performers) are ‘Legally Blonde’ -the musical- in the fall and ‘Play On’ in the spring.”