Whitcomb High School Drama Club Chosen for State Fest
By Mary Anderson

Whitcomb High School’s drama club was one of two schools chosen to go to the state competition for one-act plays. The group was chosen out of a field of six schools that participated in the regional competition held March 22 at Williamstown High School.

Whitcomb music teacher Susan Rule, who cast and directed the play, noted that some schools they compete against have up to 1,200 students in their school, with drama as part of the curriculum. Thus they have a large pool of students to draw from for the event.

However, believing that bigger is not necessarily better, Rule methodically read through many plays while thinking about the strengths of her group of nine students. She settled on "Deliver Us Not! (or, Birth, Where is Thy Sting?)" by Greg Gamble and Lee Howard. There are three speaking parts and three non-speaking parts. The other three students are the "techies." Kep Taylor, Lisa Hill and the students helped with the set, although Rule acknowledged that a lot of credit had to go to Taylor for the hours and work he put into designing the gigantic womb.

For the competition, the students have just one hour to set up, perform the play and completely dismantle their sets. Whitcomb completed the task in 55 minutes. Rule said that the competitive part of the completion is downplayed and the students do not find out until after they are on the bus home who the winners are.

Some of the feedback this year’s group was given was that the ensemble acting was really tight, the set was wonderful, and the students were able to fully understand and convey a complex script.

This is the third year in a row that Rule has led the Whitcomb group to a win at the regionals. The state competition will be held April 4 and 5 at the St. Johnsbury Academy. Two schools from each of the five regional competitions will attend, bringing a total of 10 to the state tournament. Whitcomb will perform April 5 at 10:30 a.m. The top two regional teams will go to the New England competition.

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