The annual Cathedral Catholic Young Playwrights’ Festival proved to be a success as the audience heckled, whistled, and clapped enthusiastically throughout the Saturday, January 29^th shows. Members of the CCHS community flocked to the Guadalupe Center to be entertained, and the young student directors did not fail to disappoint.

The most striking aspect of the night was that each featured piece was a comedy, a welcome change from previous festivals that centered on more serious, melodramatic plays. With plays ranging from high school satires to those more abstract, the directors claimed they sought inspiration from a variety of sources, including sugar rushes and childhood memories.

“The Adventures of Carey, a Young Fellow”

The story begins when a downcast delivery man (senior Kit Fach) is subjected to hearing a story from a customer (senior Devon Hillard) about her zany neighbor Carey (senior Michael Mahady), who is allergic to every type of wood except zebrawood. Bored with his bland blue plastic furniture, Carey is delighted when he hears of a sale featuring furniture made from zebrawood. Little does the unsuspecting Carey know that the owner of the store is a sorcerer who has put a spell on the furniture to make it appear to be zebrawood. The store manger’s nephew and Chuck Norris impersonator (senior Hugh Yoder) appears at Carey’s doorstep to warn him that the furniture is really made of blue plastic. Using his magic powers, the Chuck Norris impersonator is able to pull a doughnut from the sky, thus preventing the zebrawood furniture from turning into blue plastic furniture. Sophomores Mylinh Nguyen and Megan Miller co-wrote the script and collaborated with Hillard to create an undoubtedly silly, absurd play that set the comedic tone for the rest of the night.

“Can You Feel the Love Tonight: An Elton John Musical”

This year’s Playwright Festival marked the debut of the first CCHS-original musical, a classic boy-meets-girl love story featuring excerpts from Elton John’s most famous songs. Roger (senior Zak Myers) falls head-over-heels in love with Laura (junior Brianna Heller) after accidentally bumping into her at the park. The two casually date, but conflict arises when Laura’s dejected former boyfriend doggedly tries to win her back. In the end, Laura decides she does not want a relationship, breaking both boys’ hearts. The songs featured in the play were “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Tiny Dancer,” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” All three characters gave dazzling vocal performances, and seniors Zak Myers and Noah Fujioka were able to take a drama class assignment of writing a play to a new level with their innovative and original musical.

“Joel and Jett”

Awkward and timid high school student Joel (sophomore Lucas Lawson) finds an unlikely fairy godmother in Jett (senior Josh Hedtke), a leather jacket-wearing stranger known for fishing cats out of pool filters. The two form a “bromance” of sorts as Jett teaches Joel the art of wooing women. As the play progresses, Joel gains the confidence needed to impress his crush (senior Skylar Brown), and he finally is able to go on a date with her after she cancels her other plans. The twist at the end of the play was surprising – Jett is Joel’s alter ego, a person Joel aspires to be. The characters of Joel and Jett were well cast; Lawson and Hedtke seemed to have chemistry on-stage, making the play all the more believable. With straight-faced deadpan humor, Hedtke effortlessly delivered quirky jabs at Jason Borne and Taylor Swift, winning over the audience with his charm and leather jacket.

“A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush: A Scooby Doo Mystery”

Seniors Paul Franke and Mike Mezzino brought a satirical rendition of the classic kid cartoon “Scooby Doo” onstage when a spooked and overly patriotic George W. Bush (Fach) calls the Mystery Gang to his Texas ranch to chase off “goons.” The gang, Shaggy (junior Gavin Barba), Velma (senior Maria Thompson), Daphne (Alexandra Dimas), Fred (Hedtke), and Scooby (senior Grant Collins) pile in the Mystery Machine and make the trip to Bush’s ranch. Upon arrival, they are joined by the late President’s maid Juanita (senior Attie Harris) and the former first lady Laura Bush (senior Kimberlee Holland) in the hunt for the culprits. The Mystery Gang soon learns the so-called goons are illusion-performing magicians (Galuppo, Fach, and American Government teacher Mr. Matt Baier). With the help of Scooby Doo, the gang is able to apprehend the real perpetrator, an attention-starved George Bush. Although the play was a farce of the beloved series, the directors kept true to the original show by including classic lines like “zoinks” and “jinkies,” scooby snacks, romantic tension between a jealous Daphne and a girl-crazy Fred, a ridiculous mouse-trap plan to catch the villains, and a brainy Velma who loses her glasses. With the exception of Scooby, the characters were amusingly ditzy, and the wisecracking so-called ‘chocolat’ lab claimed in perfect English to be an expert crime fighter and refined lover.

Chameleon

Written and directed by junior Matt Thompson, the last play of the night documented Anthony James’, “A.J” , struggle to find his niche in high school. Thompson made his debut on the big screen earlier this year with his movie The Medallion of Man, and his play includes themes similar to those found in his movie, such as finding identity. A.J. (senior Chris Adams) glides from one social group to the next, trying to fit in. Thompson plays up stereotypes of the various social groups found in high school – the jocks (senior Garrett Peterson, Collins, and senior Andrew Viegas), the nerds (Hillard, seniors Michael Rogers and Julianne Vallera, and Myers), and the Glee Club. After mingling with various cliques, A.J. decides he needs a girlfriend, and he falls in love with Elena (Harris). However, Elena does not understand A.J.’s frenzied attempts to blend in with everyone, and she only wishes he would be himself. A.J. learns his lesson the hard way when she decides she cannot be with him because he is a chameleon. He quickly realizes the errors of his ways, and at the end of the play, decides to just be himself rather than try to be like everyone else in high school. Despite its light-hearted tone, Thompson’s piece diverged from the others with its narrative style: Adams served as both the narrator and protagonist of the play. In addition, Thompson cleverly integrated clothing into the script to convey A.J.’s effort to blend in; as he moved from one group to the next, he shed another layer to reveal a t-shirt that matched the group he was trying to impress.

This one-night only show was an opportunity for those involved to shine, and the directors and actors alike basked in praise from the audience. As many of the Young Playwright’s Festival participants are dedicated members of the drama program, the talent demonstrated is only a sneak-peek of what is to come in the highly-anticipated spring musical, Hairspray.