Emma Newman staff writer
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, theater students of all ages will perform in a show titled “Valentine’s Day Love Fest” today, Feb. 11 and tomorrow, Feb. 12. The show will feature playwright Jonathan Rand’s one-act, “Check Please,” and various musical performances dedicated to individual students.
The focus of the show will be on the play, which revolves around characters Guy and Girl. Guy and Girl each go on various blind dates with a variety of unique characters. Students will also sing love songs on behalf of parents and students who paid for them to be dedicated to a specific individual.
To fit the new Zoom format of performances during the pandemic, Rand adapted the play to consist entirely of virtual dates. Drama teacher Karen Chandler was drawn to this play particularly because of its adaptability to Zoom and because of its relatable premise.
“It’s super funny and super relatable with Zoom,” Chandler said. “It’s very, very relevant right now.”
Senior Dorsa Samouha, who plays Girl, also appreciated how Zoom-friendly the show is, which allows her to “be more creative.”
Samouha enjoyed rehearsals thus far, which she says have been “going well,” despite the slim number that the cast has participated in.
“Everyone’s been preparing and we’ve all been working well together,” Samouha said. “Seeing people from different levels of theater together is my favorite part.”
Chandler also thinks rehearsals have been “super easy,” due to the fun nature of the play.
“We really could play with the characters and have some silly fun and see what worked,” Chandler said.
Senior Max Love, who plays Guy, also found the rehearsals to be enjoyable due to the one-act being “fun to play.” He particularly enjoys being able to perform alongside some of the more eccentric characters.
“Getting to act alongside all the different actors in the play with all their weird characters [is enjoyable],” Love said. “I get to be with all the weird ones because my character isn’t weird, but all of theirs are. It’s fun to play that kind of contrast.”
One of Love’s favorite scenes involves a contrast: scene one. The scene, which he performs alongside senior Hadley Gold, features a date between him and the tech-savvy Jackie (Gold), who is well-versed in virtual dating.
“[In the scene] he’s like, ‘Oh, this is my first time virtual dating’ and she’s like, ‘Oh, I only virtual date,’” Chandler said. “Then, she goes on to TBT, LOL, hashtag, and he has no idea what she’s talking about.”
Samouha’s favorite scene is alongside junior Eli Okum, who plays the character of Barry.
“He plays this frat boy kind of guy,” Samouha said. “He shows up as if this was a marketing gage and he gives a whole PowerPoint about how the relationship can go further and how he wants children and things like that. I think it’s really funny to see [my character] react to that character.”
Samouha and Love both think that people should see the show because of these comedic scenes, with Samouha particularly appreciating the calm nature of the play.
“[It] makes you laugh. It’s something silly [and] lighthearted,” Samouha said. “If you don’t know what you want to do Thursday or Friday night, you should come to watch the show and chill out a bit [and] relax.”
Chandler, on the other hand, thinks that “the reason” to see the show is because of the diverse age group of the cast.
“[There are] some new faces,” Chandler said. “There’s some of the really, really good actors that we have that people will be familiar with seeing, but some fresh faces got cast this time, which I think is really exciting.”
