Drama at its finest

Crowds at the Little Metra went on a roller coaster of emotions and were throughly entertained by the Columbus Speech and Drama team’s spring play and open house.
Held the last weekend of February, the night began with award-winning presentations by the graduating seniors. Each placed at the state competition in January in their respective events.
Rourke Hanson kicked off the night with his emotional dramatic oral interpretation (DOI) piece “To This Day” by Shane Koyzan. To lighten the mood, Sarah Carrel then performed her humorous solo piece “How ‘Bout that Airline Food?” by Ryan Koski, a Columbus graduate. Both Hanson and Carrel placed fourth at state.
Josh Bowman followed Carrel with his striking DOI rendition of “The Thieves’ Banquet,” a rap song by Kingslee James Daley (aka Akala). Devin Livergood and Dalton Marjerison ended the first half of the evening with their humorous duo piece “French Revolution,” by Columbus grad Heather Connor. Bowman and the duo of Livergood and Marjerison earned first place awards at state, giving Columbus the distinction of raising the funniest as well as most serious students in the state.
The second half of the evening housed the main event – a comedy by Ed Monk titled “Bedtime Stories (as told by our dad)(who messed them up).”
The play tells the story of a tired dad attempting to put his three young daughters to bed. Before they will sleep, however, the father must tell each a bedtime story. Not much of a storyteller, the dad takes traditional fairy tales and makes them his own.
While Little Bo Peep saved her sheep from a dinosaur and Rumpelstiltskin worked to give the baby back, audience laughter filled the building as the speech and drama crew performed “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Girl who Cried Dinosaur,” and “Rumpelstiltskin.”
The play and open house served as a fundraiser for the CHS Speech, Drama, and Debate team. Throughout two nights of performances and a baked goods silent auction the team raised about $900.
Fundraisers, such as the play, are important for the team because it must cover the costs of entry fees for numerous tournaments throughout the season.
In addition to the fundraising aspect, the open house served as a final performance for the seniors. When asked about their favorite part of the play, the students were happy to own up to relishing the opportunity to act with their friends one last time.