GHS English teacher, Ms. O’Keefe, and GHS Curriculum Director, Mr. McDermott both stepped off the bus, and saw that there were a lot of students from not just their school, but also other schools as well. All those students waiting in the big theater shared the same excitement that the theater kids were all excited about, which was the excitement for the state-wide competition to begin. And not only that, but also the other drama teachers were happy, yet entirely nervous, to see their own students competing in the biggest drama competition in NH. Plymouth State students ran the introductions, welcoming everyone to the event, and they even answered questions from the high school student visitors about what it’s like to be a drama student. Ms. O’Keefe was very interested in what they were saying, and after that, the drama competition began.
Every year, in the month of October, the NH Educational Theater Guild Workshop holds a state-wide drama competition where high school drama classes from multiple schools in New Hampshire get to compete against each other, as the only way to get nominated to do the event is that you must be in a drama or music class in high school. And at the end, the students get to see a play performed by Plymouth State drama students usually put on for the drama kids, as it’s like a reward for all the hard work they did during the competition. This year, it was “Lucky Stiff”. For more info, according to Theatre Trip, “Lucky Stiff is a farcical musical that follows the story of Harry Whitherspoon, a shoe salesman who suddenly learns about his recently deceased uncle’s unexpected will, and in order to inherit 6 million dollars, Harry must take his uncle’s embalmed body on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Monte Carlo”. Three students at GHS won the improv competition, and one of those 3 students was fellow sophomore Kacey Palmer, who was one of the last few students standing in the improv competition, along with fellow GHS students Micheal and James.
“It’s honestly the most fun I’ve ever had in a festival. Everybody in that environment had that same passion and interest. We all really clicked without knowing each other personally. And then, just overall, a super incredible experience. Me, Micheal, and James managed to make it to the end of the improv competition.” exclaimed Kacey Palmer.
There were so many workshops & competitions at the drama event. According to the NHETG website and Ms. O’Keefe, there were workshops & competitions for improv, acting, staging makeup, movement, backstage rigging, backstage tech (aka the “Tech Olympics”, as they called it), directing scenes, one-word play writing, building a flat, foam, scenic painting, and lighting. These workshops & competitions provided a lot of skill building for student actors, directors, and tech crew at the theater that the teachers either don’t usually teach, don’t usually work on, or don’t have the time to work on at all. Ms. O’Keefe thought that it was a positive experience, and she, Mr. McDermott, and her drama class got to have dinner all-together & they all chatted about what they learned from the field trip, and she found her drama students’ stories very interesting, to say the least. After dinner, they all got to see the farcical musical, “Lucky Stiff”, before heading back to the high school.
“My favorite part of the field trip was how excited students are when they leave with the new skills or ideas that they picked up. And I think the Guild runs a very unique and important event. It’s something that’s not usually available for our drama students.” said Ms. O’Keefe.
