The Hayward High School Drama Club students are going to hit the stage this fall with their latest production: The Love of Three Oranges. The show is directed by Mr. Anderson and the play will run in the Hayward High School Auditorium from November 15th-17th.
The Love of Three Oranges is about exactly what’s in the name: Love, and three oranges. This play is an old Italian fairy tale and was brought up a very long time ago by a bet between an author and his critic. The author made a bet that the critic couldn’t write a play better than him, but the critic won the bet, which is how the play The Love of Three Oranges was made. It’s about a young prince who has to voyage to search for three oranges, with each orange containing a princess.
Drama club works very hard on this play every single week. It is very difficult to perform on stage in front of a large audience, and they practice every day to ensure that they can perform perfectly on play night. Five days a week, for two hours or more after school, the Drama Club practices the play to perfect their roles and positions. I asked the director of the club, Mr. Anderson, what he does to bring out the best of the cast. “There are many aspects to bringing out the best in students in the cast. It depends on the type of student. Sometimes I have to be tough and nurturing, but most of it takes lots of practice, coaching, and teaching the students how to act,” he responded. “So far, they are doing very well. They started off as just students reading off scripts, but now they are starting to become their characters.”
I asked students in the club some questions regarding the play production and their opinions. Zander Miles, a senior, stated, “This is my 4th year of being in the club. My favorite part of the club is hanging out with my friends, and the most difficult part about it is positions.”
This is also Julia Carley’s fourth year of being in drama club. She said her favorite part is, “all the fun memories we make as a group together, and I hope that when we do the play, the audience can tell that all the actors had a lot of fun with the performance.” Julia is excited to have three roles in the play, and “I actually get to die twice!” She thinks the most difficult part of Drama Club is memorizing lines, especially since she has three different roles.
Not only does the Drama Club cast do a very great job and work really well, the stage crew works just as hard. They are responsible for creating and moving scenery, doing special effects, dealing with props, and operating the light and sound systems. The stage crew pour their art skills into the building and make scenery and props that make the play come alive. Stage crew member Zoey Ozee said, “My favorite part being in the club is being able to spend more time with my friends and creating new memories every day, as it’s my fourth year… I would say the hardest part about being in the club stage crew is locating props since there are a lot of weird ones here and there from past years.”
The Drama Club students still have about another month until their big performances. Curtains will be up at 7:00 p.m. on November 15th and 16th, and up at 1:30 p.m. on November 17th. Tickets will be $5.00 at the door at the entrance of the school, and as usual HHS students are able to participate in watching the production for free. The club is very excited to perform the play in a month, especially our senior cast members, and let’s support them all by going out and seeing the show!
