photos by Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
The New Palestine High School Theater Department during a dress rehearsal for their spring play, “Trapped.”
NEW PALESTINE — Three of the main characters in the play called “Trapped,” stood in a circle inside the New Palestine High School auditorium and reflected on the opportunity to perform in a more-than-challenging show.
The play is based on an incomprehensible event: every person in the audience of a high school play in Menachap, Calif., falls unconscious — except one. Using interviews with witnesses, loved ones, first responders, and the investigators pursuing the case, the NPHS theatre ensemble brings the story of the strange event to life in a documentary style. As the strands weave together into an increasingly dangerous web, it becomes clear the phenomenon might not be entirely in the past.
“Our director, Caroline Clayton, and a few students saw a showing of the play a few years ago and decided they wanted to do it,” senior Katelynn Howell said. “It was supposed to happen in 2020, but everything shut down because of COVID, so here we are now getting the chance.”
Howell gets to play a couple of different roles in the show — one she and the other students called wildly unusual, interesting as well as edgy, even scary. The show will give the young actors a chance to interact with the audience during the performance.
“I don’t like to be scared, but I do like to scare other people,” Howell said with a laugh. “It’s going to be fun.”
Lillie Poag, NPHS junior, said the performing arts is a large part of her life, and she was thrilled when she heard they were stepping out on the edge, taking on such a different kind of play. Poag gets to play a detective who helps take the audience on a journey to figure out what happened.
“All these crazy things happen, and that makes it really interesting,” Poag said. “It’s scary to the point that you don’t know what is going to happen until the last minute.”
The students say every word uttered and every step taken during the show holds clues about the crazy event for the audience.
Ethan Poorbaugh, NPHS senior, gets to be the narrator, talking to the audience about the happenings on stage by reading newspaper accounts. He also plays the fire chief, investigating the bizarre event.
“The play is almost like a documentary,” Poorbaugh said. “I think this play is going to be really memorable because it is so different.”
For Clayton, the play’s director, she’s been waiting a couple of years to challenge the drama students with a different type of performance, something more edgy and complicated, but one that doesn’t make the young actors uncomfortable.
“Some of the content sometimes with theater is challenging for younger people to play,” Clayton said.
She didn’t want to pick a show where a student had to kiss another actor or get too intimate because of their age coupled with everyone coming off of COVID concerns about close contact.
“The idea was just to choose something really different,” Clayton said. “It’s a show based on interviews.”
Clayton noted the students have been great buying into the unusual play. However, since it’s been a couple of years since they’ve be able to have a spring play, everyone involved has had plenty of time to make sure the vision is sharp and on point.
“These kids are going to rock this play,” Clayton said. “They’re that good.”
The students have bought into the chance to be part of a play that is different, offering Clayton feedback and working hard for months to learn their roles, she said.
Clayton credited many for the hard work, including the play’s assistant director, Andy Brand, who handles the lighting and audio along with the head of the NPHS music department, Steve Beebe, for bringing the play to life with his always clever set creations.
Thirty-six NPHS students are working along with the many adult volunteers to pull off the show, one Clayton and the students said is sure to leave the audience enthralled when they leave.
“If you want the spoiler ending, I’d say it has a good ending, and it has a bad ending,” Poag said. “It’s intriguing.”
