It was a slam-dunk for the Boyle School drama class for their performance of a basketball comedy at the Alberta High School One-Act Play festival in Red Deer last week.
The class came home with an outstanding achievement award and two honourable mentions from the provincial showcase for their performance of “Time Out.”
“Time Out” follows basketball player Jaimie Krebs courtside as he finally gets his chance to play in the last basketball game of high school after four years of sitting on the bench, only to be woken up from his dream by his coach.
The play was taken from Ken Dashow’s playbook, “Dashow Must Go On” and was performed and managed by 10 Grade 11 and 12 students.
“It’s a lot of fun. You don’t get a lot of comedies in the provincials because people take more serious stuff,” said Boyle School principal Art Shea, who teaches a drama class one semester a year.
And the risk taking paid off for the school. Dallan Bencharsky was awarded an Honourable Mention in acting for his performance as Coach, and Skye Caouette received an Honourable Mention in scenic painting. Bethany Irla won for outstanding achievement in stage management.
The showcase at the Red Deer College Arts Centre ran from May 7- 9 and featured 18 productions from high schools across Alberta.
“It was the best of the best. It was a pretty cool atmosphere,” Shea said.
But the road to success wasn’t without its fair share of hiccups along the way.
Shea noted that one of the stage crew members became sick on the drive down to Red Deer.
“Her parents were driving her down Thursday night and she was throwing up,” he recalled.
Luckily, Dallan Bencharsky’s sister, who happened to be there to watch the play and support her brother, stepped in backstage.
The students performed for a crowd of almost 600 in the Red Deer College Arts Centre, which houses four large rehearsal and performance spaces, 11 practice rooms, and fully-operational scene and costume shops.
“When you ask my kids who were the stage managers (about the theatre), they said it was unbelievable. It’s like a professional theatre,” Shea observed.
After the performances wrapped up, the students finished off the weekend with a banquet and dance before heading home.
The students also came back with the Boyle School’s first provincial banner. The team earned the chance to go to provincials after winning in the 2E Zone Competition at the Nancy Appleby Theatre back in April.
Twenty plays from four schools vied for a spot.
The Westwood Community School from Fort McMurray also moved ahead to provincials for their play, “A Rope Against the Sun,” and Edwin Parr Composite placed third as an alternate for “Chicken. Road.”
