Pace High School’s acclaimed drama program held a trio of sold-out performances for its Fall 2016 production ‘Til Death Do Us Part on November 1, 2, and 3. What made this production unique is that it is the first completely original play created by Pace Drama alumni and students.
The murder comedy-mystery set in a 1980s wedding was written primarily by Jamie Adelson, a Pace alumna from the Class of 2015. She worked in conjunction with Cristina Pla-Guzman, lead teacher for Pace’s Academy of Visual and Performing Arts Theatre Program. Pla-Guzman came up with the idea to make the play interactive and the Pace Drama students would practice parts of the script as they were finished.
Junior Noah Marino, who played Ferris, the younger brother of the groom, explained that the 80’s theme came from the song “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield. Adelson was inspired to write a play after hearing the song and Pla-Guzman loved the idea of dating the play in a certain decade.
The play was a wildly interactive experience for the audience. Instead of sitting in rows facing a stage, they sat at circular tables on the Spartan Center floor as actors performed in front of, and even, at their tables. 80s fashion was on display, 80s songs played over the loud speakers as the wedding and hilarious murder mystery unfolded. Audience members even stood for the bouquet toss and dance during the play’s wedding.
Another unique aspect of the play was that the killer and motive were different for each performance, with the audience being able to look at the back of their programs to see a list of potential culprits. As it turns out, night 2’s killer, the videographer, was so well received that the crew decided to have him be the killer again on night 3.
“The best part is that every role was written for specific actors,” said Marino. Adelson visited every other practice to meet with students, including the juniors and seniors whom she already knew from her time at Pace.
Pace senior Alexandria Altidor, the stage manager and head of soundboard on the play, felt the play was unique from their previous productions, but great nonetheless.
“At first, it was a little nerve wracking because we hadn’t done [an original play] before,” said Altidor. “But during the summer, when the drama executive board met and read the first draft, we realized it was going to be good.”
Pace’s Drama program had even more to celebrate the very next weekend, as they won 8 Superiors (First Place) and 8 Excellents (Second Place) at the International Thespian Society District Competitions held on November 11 and 12. They will be competing in the International Thespian Society’s State competition for the 10th consecutive year in March 2017.