Students write, perform historical play
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POLSON — Drama productions are labor intensive: casting the play, learning lines, blocking, constructing and painting the set, making costumes and practice, practice, practice. If the actors write the play, it’s even bigger. That’s what happened this year when upper school students at Mission Valley Christian Academy and teacher Joshua Hicks wrote and edited their own play.
For the body of the play, Hicks had his students write a mirror monologue, what a character might see, feel and think looking into a mirror. After identifying the different characters — a slave, a politician — the students extensively researched their characters. Hicks assigned an extensive character profile including a daily routine, hopes, two people they admire or who influenced them. Then he wove the written pieces together, honing and polishing, over Christmas break.
The result was “Echo’s Pool,” an historical play, which exhibits the students’ understanding of the classical and Jewish roots of the early church, according to Hicks.
“The primary theme of the play is the Divine Image in human beings, which is represented here by the unmasked human face,” he said.
The set, props and costumes were simple and constructed by students with instruction from parents and community members Wade Shipley, Jason Edwards, Jerry Roylance, Dean Brown, Holly Lapka and Carolyn Hall.
Leaves formed the backdrop and were recycled from a school production of “Much Ado About Nothing.”
The students learned basic sewing skills from Marlo Maddy, Linda Mergenthaler, Karen Lenz and Julie Rowley, who created the costumes, ankle-length robes of various colors.
All the actors, except Melody Mergenthaler (Tiresias, whose eyes were covered to symbolize her blindness) wore masks covering the upper part of their faces. The masks came from classical Greek tragedies, Hicks explained, where all the actors wore masks.
“The masks represented people’s inability to interact with others ... and covered emotion,” Hicks said.
Used to conveying emotion with facial expressions, the students found it difficult with their faces covered and had to rely more on gestures and body language.
The Christ figure wore the traditional gold or gilt mask. Students made their masks by coating their faces with Vaseline or Saran Wrap and then layering on strips of gauze soaked in plaster of Paris. Characters came from mythology, such as Echo and Narcissus, and from the early days of Christianity, such as the Christ and Moses, with almost all the actors played more than one part.
Actors were Jordan Lapka, Melody Mergenthaler, Katelyn Mergenthaler, Anne Mae Macy, Jemimah Murphy, Richie Thomas, Ryan Windauer, Taryn Dupuis, Brenden Conrad, Phebe Davis, Libby Lichte, Julia Maddy, Kip Mergenthaler, Connor Murphy and Brynn Slack.
One of the school’s major fundraisers, the play was presented on Feb. 16-18 and Feb. 23-25.
