LIHUE — This year, there’s a twist to the Kauai Performing Arts Center’s annual middle and high school plays: Two of them are being directed by high school students.
“The Nameless Princess,” directed by Kapaa High School senior Ethan Whatmore, and “All The Bases,” directed by Kapaa High School senior Sara Morimoto, will be the first two student-directed plays in the annual event’s lineup.
“This year the two plays at Kapaa Middle School are student directed, which really accomplished two things,” said Dennis McGraw, artistic director for KPAC. “It gets those high school students into director roles and I can split up all the kids that auditioned into two casts, so that everyone can be in the play.”
The students at Waimea Canyon Middle School will be starring in “The Stone in the Road,” and the students at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School will be presenting “Rainbows vs. Bunnies: Annihilation.”
Putting on plays at the middle school level is “a good way to get those kids exposed to theater early,” McGraw said. “Then they can stay on with us through high school and have seven years of acting experience under their belt.”
The plays will be presented at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for adults, and are available only at the door.
In addition to the four middle school plays, high school students have been rehearsing “Inherit the Wind,” which is a play that debuted in 1955. It fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial in Tennessee, which resulted in John Scopes’ conviction for teaching the theory of evolution in a high school science class, which was then contrary to state law.
“When you look into the history of the trial, it seems that the entire thing was staged in order for the town to get publicity, but the movie and the play both center around the trial,” McGraw said.
The real purpose of the play, however, is to encourage intellectual freedom, McGraw said.
“The purpose of the play was to draw parallels to McCarthyism,” McGraw said. “A lot of people think that this is a play attacking Christianity, but its theme really is freedom of thought.”
The play has a cast of 22 and revolves around the two lawyers involved in the case, Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond. Those two roles have been a challenge for McGraw and his cast.
“Both of the guys that are playing the lawyers have been out of rehearsal for three weeks or so,” McGraw said. “One of them broke his leg and the other one was off the island. They’re back now, but it put a kink in our rehearsals.”
The two lawyers weren’t the only ones who have missed a rehearsal. McGraw said there have been various members of the cast missing for short periods of time throughout the project, but they’ve been able to pull the play together anyway.
The students at Kapaa and Kauai high schools will be bringing “Inherit the Wind” to the KPAC black box theater Dec. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 7 p.m., and on Dec. 13 and 20 at 3 p.m. General admission is $10. On Dec. 20 admission to the show is by reservation only.
Info: Dennis McGraw at 651-2417
