At Tabor, it is rare when preparations are not taking place for some type of theatrical production. Throughout the next two weeks, Tabor Academy students will be presenting two separate drama performances on campus.
The first performance is The Nine Worst Breakups of All Time, a comedy that takes the audience from the times of the first humans to modern-day society, highlighting some of the worst breakups ever. The show is directed by John Heavey, who also directs the Winter Musical at Tabor. The show will be performed from Thursday, November 3 to Saturday, November 5.
“We’re breaking out some new talent and hey, we’ve all been through a breakup,” joked Heavey.
The second performance is The Laramie Project, a play that follows the reaction to the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, in Laramie, Wyoming. The script is the result of hundreds of interviews with the people of Laramie throughout the year following the murder. Mark Howland and assistant director Duhita Das, a senior at Tabor, direct the show. This show will be performed from Thursday, November 10 to Saturday, November 12.
“It’s opened my eyes to the horrors that exist in the world, and that this could have happened anywhere, which is the scariest part and makes the play so much more real and personal,” said Das.
The cast and crew from The Laramie Project will continue working on the performance throughout the winter, preparing to showcase it at Ellesmere College in England and at other locations around the region in spring of 2017.
This trip is part of a Tabor/Ellesmere College Drama Exchange program that began in 1994 and has operated on a two-year cycle since 2002. Tabor last traveled to England in 2015 when they performed The Secret in the Wings, an adaptation of lesser-known Grimm fairy tales that are told inside of a larger tale. The exchange will also bring a group of students from Ellesmere College to Tabor in April, who will perform for the Tabor community during their stay.
The actors and crew for both shows participate in the plays as an afterschool activity, in lieu of a sport. Each day, students gather to rehearse lines, block scenes, and take part in the full range of preparations for the upcoming performances. The plays are performed in the smaller Black Box Theater, allowing the connection between the actors and the audience to be much more intimate. Having a smaller cast allows each member of the cast to have a significant role in all aspects of the drama.
Both performances will be in the Will Parker Black Box Theater, upstairs in Hoyt Hall at Tabor. All the shows will begin at 7:30 pm. Space is extremely limited in the theater, so be sure to reserve your free tickets in advance by calling 508-748-2000.
At Tabor, drama continues throughout the remainder of the school year. During the winter season, the school presents two dramatic performances. The main performance – the annual Winter Musical – is Tabor’s largest theatrical performance each year. This winter, the school will present the popular romantic comedy Grease. The second will be a black box play performed in February, just a week after the musical.
In the spring, the drama scene will transition to the One Acts, short black box plays directed by upperclassmen students that are typically rehearsed in the actors’ free time in the evenings.
All the performances throughout the year are immensely popular, filling the black box theater or the main Hoyt stage each night of the production with audience members from the Tabor and local communities.
By Jack Gordon