The students in Game Changers helped create the upcoming play ‘Hoodie’ that took place at Southeast Middle School on Mar. 19.
The play talked about middle school kids and the problems they deal with. The play also went into the judgement many kids receive, and the paranoia of not knowing what others think about them while still trying to figure out who they might be as a person and where they fit into the standards that students set up, such as the stereotype of “Popular kids”.
The students worked really hard to make sure this play came out as best as it could. They did rehearsals every Wednesday and Thursday.
“We’ve given the students a lot of time to write their own monologues that could have been considered to be in the play so they had a chance to think about the characters and think about how they feel and add their sense to it also,” stated by Ms. Lawrence, the organizer of the club.
The students had a chance to get to know the characters and understand their personality to act them out as well as they can.
For some students in Game Changers, this was the first performance that they took part in.
“I was kind of nervous when creating the play because it’s my first play,” said Diego Velez.
Despite their nervousness, they really looked forward to it. The play taking place soon had given many of the kids mixed emotions. Some of the students felt excited and some nervous. Because of this, this had affected many of the kids’ rehearsals.
While some students felt nervous about the performance, other students looked forward to the play coming up because they already have past experience.
“Rehearsal is fun because I already know all my lines and I feel fine about the play being tomorrow because I have done this the year before so I know how everything goes.” said Jazmine Rios.
Kids having too many lines can cause them to have trouble remembering them, which is what happened to a few of the students.
“I feel kind of scared for the play because I like to have the most lines and I have 3 different characters I have to play as, and I have to be the star of the show,” said Xiomara Carillo.
Some of the kids had harder roles than others, with some playing more than one character meaning they would have to remember more lines. Because of this, some of the students struggled to act out these characters.
Some of the kids had already memorized their lines, which left them less things to stress on along with having the ability to perform confidently.
The students looked forward to showing off their hard work, the reactions they received, and because some thought that participating in the play offered a good opportunity to do the same play and act in it in case some want to go farther with an acting career.
“I mostly look forward to seeing the enjoyment on my friends’ faces after the performance,” stated Luis Saavedra.
Joining the theatre club can benefit many of the students because it can teach them empathy, how to communicate, and because it allows them to express themselves giving them confidence.
