By Grace Goudy (YR 49/2024, Canada-NL)
On an auspicious Friday, the 13th of January, a group of high school students gathered on the theatrical stage and backstage.
Dressed almost all in white, the stage actors spread crumpled-up pieces of paper across the hardwood floor under glowing blue lights. To an outsider, it would look like a cult ritual. To these students, it was something they had waited months for: a chance to perform and stage manage their long-awaited play. As the audience entered the house, we stood around backstage, giddy with excitement and anticipation. We had started rehearsing this production in October, and now we were, four months later, finally bringing it to life in front of the Pearson community and invited guests.
We were an ensemble of two dozen young people: volunteers, children that lived on campus, and first-year theatre students.
For some, this was our first time performing live on stage. For others, this was another show. But for all of us, it meant a second chance to show the world our creation.
We were originally supposed to perform The Lottery (Spoiler Alert: Don’t click if you plan on reading the story or script!) late in the Fall term. But because of high winds which contributed to a subsequently extended power outage (something Pearson alumni may remember well from their own student days!), we had to postpone our show until after winter break.
So, The Lottery, a piece adapted by our theatre teacher Lucas Olscamp from Shirley Jackson’s short story of the same name, was put on hold. We students dispersed for our winter break across the world. From Belarus to Alberta, with host families in Victoria and our own families back home, we practised our lines and hoped our second chance at performing wouldn’t go wrong.
Our prayers to the theatre gods must have been heard because the first-year theatre production went without a hitch on Friday the 13th. Students, faculty and guests alike were awestruck by the eerie atmosphere created on stage. The Lottery kept our audience on the edge of their seats, moving through seemingly normal interactions by townsfolk and tense solos cast under blue light and swarming noise, preparing them for the finale.
Without revealing too much about the play, in case another theatre cohort ever has the chance to perform it themselves, I’ll say that it’s a testament to how we become influenced by others, and how sometimes, traditions no longer serve a purpose in our modern-day society.
Now that The Lottery is finished, we first-year theatre students are moving on to our next adventure on the stage: company productions, where we write, perform and direct our own mini-plays in small groups. We’ll be performing them in March, alongside our second year’s solos, in a theatre festival ironically named Blackout. After our “tragi-comic” debacle with The Lottery, it’s easy to say that we’re all leery of what the future holds. But, through our first-year production, we’ve learned perseverance, collaboration, and hope. And, speaking of which, I hope those nearby will all come out as invited guests to our next performances!