Anyone that has rummaged through a few pages of Thinkpierce.com, probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that drama class was one of my electives as a senior in high school. What might not be expected however was that I hated it. The class focused heavily on Shakespeare type plays and other stereotypical content that anyone would assume to be a part of a drama class. It seemed to be something my peers could get in to, but it just wasn’t for me. When I dropped the class and didn’t return the next quarter something unique happened; for whatever reason, the drama teacher Mrs. Harbolt wanted me to come back to the class when the next semester started. Around that same time I had already started working on a rough draft for a space based story during my homeroom period that featured a character named Captain Robert. I wasn’t really interested in coming back to the class if I had to keep doing the same type of stuff I had done the first quarter, however Mrs. Harbolt’s question put another idea in my head. I asked her if she would let me put on my own play if I enrolled in drama again next semester. I don’t know why, but she said yes and that moment marked the beginning of what would eventually turn in to a play called, “Captain Robert and the Search for Magni-Tron Transmitters.”
Over the remaining weeks I finished writing the script during my homeroom class and once the next semester arrived I was ready to get started. True to her word, Mrs. Harbolt gave me control of the class for a set amount of weeks as well as a small budget to spend on costumes and building the set. I was truly blown away by the opportunity I had been given. I was allotted a specific amount of time to rehearse with the class and after a lot of work on everyone’s part the day finally came to perform the play. We performed it two weekend nights and had a really positive turn out. Many of the audience members who had seen it the first night, came back to see it the second night as well. The zany storyline included anything from an insane choreographed rant about the lunch I brought to a woman swooning lip sync performance of Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way. Due to the positive buzz the play had created, the school administration asked us to perform it again the following week to provide entertainment for all of the seniors while the junior class was doing some testing. This brought a lot more exposure to the play that it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise and seemed to once again bring a positive response from the audience.
The experience of getting to create this play ended up being a landmark moment for me creatively. I owe a huge thanks to Mrs. Harbolt as well as my fellow drama class students for allowing me a unique creative opportunity that I’ll never forget. The only regret I have is that I didn’t take better steps at the time to get higher quality video footage of the performance. Although I currently have a lot of creative goals that I have made a priority right now, one day I plan to make a unique movie version of this play. When that day comes, I will probably have such a natural high that people will think I’m insane….er, wait a minute…
