Rachel Silver

This past Monday, 10 students received news that they had been accepted into the drama club. Auditions were held on Nov. 6 and 7 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Seventeen students had attended the auditions.

The 10 students who Mrs. Ericsson decided to take on to form Van Buren's first ever drama club were Brice Armstrong, Alyssa Miller, Zoie Nieto, Mary Beth Kane, Brandon Bell, Zachary Schiefer, Rebecca Reichenbaugh, Natalie Risser, Kylie Sturgill, and Mercedes Williamson with Sarah Franks as an understudy/apprentice.

The four judges were Mrs. Erickson, Mr. Vaughn, Ms. Schwemley, and Mrs. Long. They were seated halfway back in the auditorium with all of the students seated several rows ahead of them, waiting for their name to be called so that they could go up onto the stage. Each student presented a monologue after introducing themselves, and then after those were completed, the group did several improvisation games.

Some of the monologues were more dramatic, deep, or sad, while others were more amusing and often, the majority of the audience would break out into laughter during these performances. On occasion a student might have missed a sentence or two, or took a bit of a pause due to forgetting it a bit, but each student completed their piece.

Improvisation, or “improv” for short, is acting that you just have to be able to go with; it's all on the spot, not really something you can rehearse or memorize. This part of the audition was an opportunity for the performer to show off their physical talents, such as the actual acting, rather than how the piece is vocally performed, as well as basic acting skills. This helped them show that they could be creative and funny just off the top of their head, also.

The entire audition session lasted two hours, though many of the students who auditioned came early or simply stayed after school to prepare for their performance. Very few students who signed up were no-shows.

Over the course of the year, there will be open rehearsals where people can come and practice their acting, whether they are in the club or not. Later this year, Mrs. Erickson plans on having some small performance as well as being apart of the school’s annual musical.