Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990 TAG: 9003091988
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By ROBERTA GREEN SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Drawn from the school's drama class and club and directed and led by their teacher, Rhonda Welch, the eight students have been cast and crew on the production of this one-act play that has soared through the competitions.
"It's an extremely intense show," said Welch of Albee's surrealistic drama of conflict between the social classes.
"From the first moment, it's got you. It's very different; we took a big risk. But we've set up the program like a college-level program, and they're neat kids. In fact, they're so sophisticated that they virtually took over the workshops at the International Thespian conference they attended at Radford."
The award-winning cast and crew had eight members:
\ Courtney Crockett, first student assistant director: "Courtney ran the lines with the actors," explained Welch.
\ Robbie Crockett, actor: "Robbie is a musician who started out in band before he came to drama." He won fifth place out of the 40 in the competition for his individual accomplishments at Regionals. Robbie and Courtney are brother and sister.
\ Ted Farmer, backstage director: "Ted is a senior acting student," said Welch. "This is the first time he's had this type of experience. He double checks everything before the curtain opens."
\ Mark Martin, production director: "Mark oversees the technical people. For example, he sees that a van's reserved if we need one, or sees if the tickets are printed."
\ Jeff Shelton, actor: "Jeff is a football player and Virginia Scholastic Chess Champion." While he's just recently come to drama, Shelton won best actor [first place] at both regional and state competitions.
\ Tina Thompson, business manager: "Tina handles the forms, schedules and paperwork. She plans the times and tells us when to leave to get wherever we're going."
\ Danny Vest, technical director: "In a "foreign" theater, Danny's in charge of seeing what facilities there are and how they work. For instance, Danny might have to learn to work a lighting board in 30 seconds."
\ Rhonda Welch, director: "I couldn't by myself have earned these things," said Shelton, referring to his first-place acting awards. "We all worked well together, but the director made all the difference. Ms. Welch gave us good direction and pushed us to be better.
"She gave us challenges and encouraged us to overcome them."
"We're excited about all we've done and accomplished. And we're exhausted," said Welch, who is already planning auditions for the next production.
by CNB