Medea (2013)

When I was a freshman, I definitely did not envision being a part of that year’s One Act Play (OAP). Having a role in OAP has always been an elite thing for any student at any school, since it is one of the only competitions high school theatre programs participate in. Additionally, the directors generally choose students with more experience and expertise to give the show the best possible chance of winning. However, when another student failed, I was by some miracle added on as a tech alternate and therefore was able to work on the show. I only got to run the light board a few times when the usual operator was absent, but I still was able to attend the competition and watch the last two weeks of this beautiful show come together. Medea is an extremely dark tale that involves characters from Greek mythology, such as the hero Jason (portrayed by graduate Dillon Mars) and his wife Medea (portrayed by graduate Colleen McCool). When the story picks up, Jason has left Medea for a princess and in turn she becomes crazy with rage, even going as far as to kill her own children to gain revenge. Our director, previous VHS theatre teacher, Darla Ray, had the idea of adding two choruses that represented the evil and kind sides of Medea’s mind. Although the show didn’t advance, McCool received Best Actress of all of the schools. In addition, the experience was amazing and a good introduction to the following OAP years for me.