KIPLING - Kipling School drama students presented a two-act play entitled Saturday Night at the Drive-in Movie by Pat Cook, holding performances on both June 4 and 5 in the Kipling School Gym.
The drama club consists of 24 students from Grades 7-11 and is directed by Lacie Pasloski and Jennifer Doell.
The play was set in the 1950s. Roll down your car window, hook up the speaker, and hear the announcements by the movie manager, Mr. Gleason (portrayed by Ronnie Szilagyi).
This play has a large cast and one practical set, switching out set pieces for upcoming attractions.
The upcoming attractions were acted out onstage, including Time Travelers in Space Suits, where aliens come not from outer space but from our own future.
See previews of what it’s like for women behind bars and how inmates keep disappearing in Wicked Wanda, Women’s Warden.
And tune in on the latest installment of a western serial, The Adventures of Rocky Rhode, where innocent women are held at gunpoint by gunslingers of the wild west.
Then it was time for the main feature, a horror flick The Vampire’s Hickey, which has movie-goers Tony (Doh Way) and Gloria (Sara Manns) battling up and down the rows of parked cars. All the fun of going to the drive-in is here, complete with ads featuring a dancing popcorn bag (Parker Dash) and a soda cup (Thomas Caswell), to Jane (Nevaeh Armstrong) trying to find her car in the dark after visiting the concession stand.
During a break between the two acts, movie goers had the chance to get their own popcorn and drink from the school’s concession stand.
The Vampire’s Hickey continued following the short intermission.
Nephew Mark Redbone (Peter Toth) plans to spend the night at the haunted mansion in The Vampire’s Hickey in order to inherit the property that once belonged to his grandma.
He brings along his girlfriend Lola (Emily Antonenko) as well as his motorcycle friends Trixie (Aurora Husband) and Buster (Barbod Nokam) to spend the night in the mansion, which is apparently haunted by a vampire and a werewolf.
The cleaning lady Olga (Paige Manns) is the only other guest at the house.
Well into the evening, Olga was attacked by the vampire (Chloe Antonio).
The gang finds a book on ways to kill a vampire as well as a bag of goodies to do the trick.
They also learn how to kill a werewolf with a silver bullet.
A storm is brewing so the guys make their way to the basement to look for the fuse box leaving the girls alone upstairs. What could go wrong?
The girls find Olga the maid dead.
Coming to the rescue was nephew Redbone who drove a stake through the vampire and the house now belongs to him.
To celebrate the evening, he proposes to his girlfriend Lola.
Other cast members included: Kory-Lane Heaton-Ross, Esztika Toth, Renn Brickley, Katherine Montaron, Eva O’Greysik, Myla Hill, Nigella Lagrono, Dawson Shoemaker, Kassidy Lowenberger, Adia Caswell, Kolbie Morton and Teddy Antion.
Helping out with lighting and technical work were Karissa Niebergall, Thomas Caswell and Ronnie Szilagyi. Responsible for stage-management were Kory-Lane Heaton-Ross and Slone Bishop.
The students had been busy rehearsing for this play since early March, but had only one week to practise on stage with lights, sets and props.
“The students were excited to be involved in a play once again,” said Pasloski.
“This is the first play I’ve directed on my own,” said Pasloski. “I took part in drama when I was in school and I also have a degree in arts and education as well as a second degree in theatre. I do have the background in this area.”
“When we were deciding on what play to do, the students said they just wanted to do something funny,” said Pasloski.
Because there are so many students in drama, the teacher thought this play would be an appropriate choice because it does call for a huge cast. This way everyone would get a role.
“It seemed like the students liked the play very well,” said Pasloski. “It was kind of ambitious as they haven’t done drama in this school for a number of years now. They are hoping to perform in a play next year as well.”
“The drama students worked really hard and I’m pretty proud of what they’ve accomplished with the time that we had.”
And that’s what it was like back then, when the sun went down and you all decided to spend Saturday Night at the Drive-In Movie.
