An Evening of Culture

This year’s annual fall play was a play within a play, though some highfalutin existential experience it was not.

An Evening of Culture, which was performed on the evenings of Thursday, November 6 and Saturday, November 8, portrayed the drawling townsfolk of fictional Mineola putting on a production of Romeo and Juliet. The meta-play is performed on the stage of a middle school gym, and the comedy issues from the chaos created by the shrill blare of the scoreboard, set construction that continues into the performance, and a town full of naïvely confident divas and painfully unaware actors.

Senior Christene Hubartt (Indianapolis, Ind.), as the town’s literal drama queen Mildred, made her theatrical debut in Thursday night’s performance. “I definitely got to play a character that is the polar opposite of my personality,” she laughed.

The other colorfully unrefined actors included Kaitlin Reagan (Granite, Calif.), Machaia McClenny (Afton, Texas), Travis Peterson (Byron, Ga.), Luke Moyer (Thonotosassa, Fla.), Eric Brodzinski (Noblesville, Ind.), Alisha Ledford (La Fayette, Ga.), and Joie Camp (Conway, Ark.). The play was directed by senior Molly Taylor (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Thursday night’s performance may not be remembered as an actual evening of culture, but if the boisterous response from the audiences is any indication, this year’s production will certainly be remembered with a wry smile.