On Saturday, November 21st Colonia High School showcased their Student Director’s Fall Showcase. The show was at 7PM in Colonia’s Auditorium and the ticket price was eight dollars (which I thought was a little expensive.) The showcase had 3 different stories to it. It included Ordinary People by Judith Guest’s and was directed by Lexii Turk. The second story was Unexpected Tenderness by Israel Horovitz’ and was directed by Sarah Alvarez and Devon Savage. The last story was Tarantino Variation by Seth Kramer’s and was directed by Danielle Coppola.
Ordinary People is about two people that have mental illnesses including depression, suicidal tendencies, and post-traumatic stress. Their names are Conrad and Karen. Conrad and Karen both spent a great deal of time in a mental hospital. Both of them met there and became good friends. Recently they got released and wanted to meet up again to have lunch. Both of them talked about how their life was going. Karen said hers was going fine and Conrad was sad because his wasn’t going that well. Basically they both talked and then the scene ended. This part of the play I thought was really slow and a little boring because there was no action and it was only two characters talking to each other. I was also a little lost because it didn’t explain the backstory and so I had to go back to the pamphlet they gave to get an idea what was going on. In my opinion, I think the play should’ve started off with a bang to get the audience hooked. This showcase started off slow and had me thinking the whole play will be boring.
The second part of the play Unexpected Tenderness was a little more serious. This little act of the play was about the troubles in the family. Its about relationships in the family and how they can’t be that great. Its about a husband and a wife with two kids, a son and a daughter. The husband is very violent and basically splits the family apart. In this part the son explained his childhood and explained what went on in his family. I personally thought this was the highlight of the play. One part of the play the husband violently hits the daughter. I was very moved by that part and so was the rest of this crowd. I liked this part a lot because of how it got to my emotions.
The last part of the play Tarantinio Variation is a satire of Quentin Tarantino’s works. It focuses on three men who have been sent to kill each other but can’t seem to get the job done. Basically its three killers who try to kill each other but don’t know who to shoot first. Every shooter is confused on who to shoot. They are all frustrated and keep on screaming and keep circling around each other. This part of the play was very funny. It was funny because each shooter didn’t know who to shoot and everyone was screaming and frustrated in a funny way. The whole audience including myself thought it was so funny and we all couldn’t stop laughing.
All in all, I thought this showcase was overall good. It did start off slow, but as the play progresses it got better. If you’re into good plays and want watch something serious but at the same time laugh, I recommend this showcase for you.
