On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, students had a day off so teachers could finish grading assignments. 

Some students used the day to pick up another shift at work, others slept in; for theater strand seniors, April 4 was performance day. 

Since last October, the senior theater class has collaborated with students at Plaza Middle School to create two separate plays that represent what current students want to see on stage. 

For two months, during the Direction & Production class, seniors spent their class time traveling to Plaza to work with their seventh-grade history class and eighth grade theater class. Seniors learned about their middle school peers through a variety of activities.

One of the most beneficial activities was making character sheets. During the character sheet activity, Plaza students were given a blank silhouette on a sheet of paper and encouraged to draw an original character. 

From funky robots to athletes with superpowers, Plaza students wasted no time using their creativity to come up with their  ideal characters. 

Seniors used these characters as inspiration to write their two plays. Plaza students displayed some insecurities they hoped to see represented within the character sheets. 

“Bakeout Breakout” was a piece written with Plaza’s seventh-grade history class. It followed a group of alien prisoners, each incarcerated within their planet for their “abnormalities.” They are forced to compete in a baking competition to win back their freedom. The overall theme became embracing others’ differences rather than belittling or punishing them for it. 

“Through the process of us making this play it actually helped me realize how important embracing other’s differences is in my life,” said senior Eve Lewis. “We all had to work together and that made us realize each of our own talents. We embraced each other’s differences and talents to create something really good.”

Similarly, Plaza’s eighth grade theatre class expressed worries of their own, but in relation to the big transition from middle to high school. Thus, “Sleepover Madness” followed a group of friends who talked about their recent nightmares that reflected how different high school could be. 

From December to January, seniors blocked and rehearsed their developed pieces. Then in February and March began touring various middle and elementary schools to perform. 

“The best part of working with the middle schoolers was that they had such a different perspective from us,” said senior Athene Davis. “Them growing up with COVID at a different time in their lives affected how they talked and the things they were interested in.”

 The same class periods taken to develop each play were used to travel, set, perform, and return from each school. 

April 4, was the final performance. Seniors ended where they started: Plaza Middle School. The night was extremely successful. Both plays were performed for parents, staff, and students. It was concluded by an award ceremony that celebrated the newfound Plaza playwrights who helped to make the piece come alive.