This year’s Winter Play was Fools by Neil Simon, and if you did not go see it you really missed out.
Fools is a hilarious story about a little Russian town that is under a curse that makes them stupid, and a young school teacher who comes for a fresh start. But it’s not long before the new school master (Zac Troff) falls in love with the beautiful girl he is trying to teach, Sophia (Jessie Stevenette).
As part of the curse though, the teacher must either leave town within a day’s time or be cursed with stupidity like the rest of the villagers.
Instead of leaving, however, the teacher vows to break the curse so that he and Sophia can be together.
Thwarting the plans of the evil Count (Justin Olson), the teacher outsmarts the entire town, breaks the curse, and marries Sophia, with her parents permission of course.
The show was a huge success, running February 22, 23, 25, and 26. It sold out every night, and even oversold some of the nights.
“I’ve wanted to direct Fools for years,” said Liz Smith, theater teacher and director. “We had a lot of fun, laughing every day in rehearsal, and it was great watching the actors bring their own interpretation of the characters.”
It was a fun experience for both the audience and the cast, consisting of Jessie Stevenette and Zac Troff as the leads, as well as Bryan Smart, Colette Condie, Michael Woodruff, Tate Swanagan, Justin Olsen, Anna Sanford, Addison Dishman, and Calvin Griffith.
The cast did a great job of keeping the audience entertained and making them laugh, through the many jokes and high energy level.
The cast did a great job on the stage, but what the audience didn’t see was all the hard work that went on behind the scenes. Students helped run things back stage as well.
“It was a good opportunity for students to do it in the real world,” said Liz Smith.
David Vance designed and supervised the building of the set, Amy Heimbigner was the main makeup artist, Katelyn Christiansen was in charge of costumes, and the stage Crew created and took charge of assembling the set, as well as managing lighting design and sound.
Many hours were put into all the backstage preparations, with all the building, painting, making fake beards, and more.
“I am now determined to never kiss a man with facial hair,” said Amy Heimbigner, “you never know how sanitary they are.”
All in all the Winter Play this year was a huge success. Bryan Smart said it was, “one of the funniest, most exhausting and greatest experiences of my life.”
