“You gotta have heart” is a line from Langley’s recent production of “Damn Yankees,” and having heart is what Langley Theater is all about. As members of the LHS Drama Department, our year has been filled with memorable, exciting, and just plain fun theater adventures.
Opening the year, we set off to perform in the VTA competition. The advanced drama class wrote and performed a short play titled “The DMV.” The play got lots of laughs. One judge even suggested that we publish our original piece of work! The competition held at Reston Town Center was a thrilling experience. We particularly enjoyed watching other schools perform.
While all of this was going on, Danny Jolles took time to perform a monologue from “Cyrano de Bergerac” for the Cappies Benefit for Katrina Survivors.
The next major Saxon Stage event was our fall play, “Robin Hood.” It was a farcical version of the well-known story. Marika Balahutrak who played the hilarious role of Bronwen, described the cast and crew as “having an onstage and offstage chemistry that made working on the production a blast. I feel lucky to have been a part of such a unique experience.”
This past winter, Brittany Lamb directed our District VHSL short play “Hamlette,” performed by members of the Drama 3 and 4 classes. After spring break, our Drama 2 students will make their annual Children’s Theatre Tour to local elementary schools. It is always a hit with the elementary students and the actors as well.
Also unique to the Langley theater department are the seasonal trips to New York City. We see plays and participate in theater-related activities. This year we saw an unusual production of “Sweeney Todd” and “Doubt.” We also toured television studios and had a seminar with actors in “Sweeney Todd.” Another New York trip will take place this spring.
Langley has just finished the stellar production of “Damn Yankees.” It was a very funny and most entertaining musical. Drama students have launched right into rehearsing their Silly Saxon and One Act skits. Silly Saxons is a review of comic skits and scenes. Our One Acts is a Thespian produced Short Play Festival that has all student directed plays.
For our grand finale we are planning a double dip of Neil Simon. Our advanced drama class is going to perform the male and female versions of “The Odd Couple.”
Saxon Stage has been filled with merriment and pleasure throughout the course of the year, and we have continued to triumph and have fun at the same time.