Last month, Glenbard West hosted four performances for its Black Box New Plays Festival, a program in which short, entirely student-produced plays are directed, rehearsed, and managed during the winter months. Students submit their scripts to the theatre program every October, and selected entries come to life in West’s Black Box theater, a small stage located next to the MURC. Plays are chosen by Mr. Fox based on originality, completeness, and performability.
This year’s lineup featured a comedy followed by a musical. Lookie, Lookie, Where’s My Cookie? is an old-style comedy written by Colin Dougherty (Sophomore) and Alex Sorensen (Sophomore), in which a family distraught from losing their final cookie hires a clueless detective to identify the culprit who ate it. The family, containing many drastically different personalities (among them a movie star and a fortune teller), lends itself to some hilarious disputes and interactions. The play’s fast-paced, sketch-to-sketch structure calls back all the classic 20th-Century comedy films, from the Marx Brothers to Monty Python.
After the comedy’s conclusion, audience members saw their seating arrangement shift, as the forthcoming musical would be viewed “in the round.” Campfire Song by Elijah Zimmerman (Senior) is, without doubt, an immersive play, as viewers are seated all around the stage so they view the scenes from different angles. The music’s folk-like style and solo guitar accompaniment transports the audience into the world of the characters, who try to resolve family issues while camping.
The musical opens with a complicated scene centered around a campfire, which outlines all four characters’ goals. Among them are winning a photography contest and confessing a love interest. After this, each character explains their personal motives through a heartfelt song, allowing listeners to better understand the backstory behind the original scene.
Perhaps the most impressive feature of these productions is their complete reliance on student resources, from script to stage. Student writers are not allowed to participate in the productions of their plays in any way; they must choose other students to direct, manage, promote, and act in the performances. The consistent high quality of this festival showcases just how much talent and artistry high schoolers can contribute to their communities and the world.
