The drama program here at Gables has been flourishing this year more than it has in past years, has anyone noticed? The Honors class isn’t the one reaching new heights.

This year the intermediate class has done more than just a showcase, which is usually their big class project. They put on a shortened version of the Wizard of Oz for the day care kids and are performing in a showcase in the end of April.

“The ‘06/’07 school year has given us the most talented and hardworking group the organization has had,” Diego Delatorre, junior and honors drama student, said.

The Honors drama 4 class went to Individual Evaluations (IE’s) competition this year and brought back nothing below an excellent; excellent being the second highest rating. The students competed in categories such as duet musical, solo musical, group musical, monologues, and ensemble acting. In the past, the number of musical performances was limited to either one or nothing, but with this years class the usual repertoire has been expanded and made way for incoming changes.

“This year, we have done extremely well in competition and expanded our repertoire to include a great deal of musical theater,” Tracey Barrow Schoenblatt, Gables drama teacher, said.

Last year the Honors class wrote their own play “Final Boarding” at the end of the year, and performed it too.

This year the drama students have made bounds and leaps in the performing arts. Now including dance and music into scenes and solos, showcases have become more varied than just the usual scene-monologue-scene pattern.

The first risk was taken back in January when the majority of girls took up the responsibility of committing to group musical rehearsals. The chosen piece was “Dance of the Robe from Aida”, and it was learned and perfected in no more than two weeks. There were several rehearsal days done outside of school and on the weekend, but in the end they received an excellent. IE’s were equally as difficult, however troupe 476 cleaned houses.

On April 10th and 11th the Honors class had a showcase that was thrown together during Spring Break and turned out to be a marvelous success. Pieces included group scenes and musical pieces from the shows “Cabaret,” “Wicked,” and “Sweet Charity.”

May 8th and 9th will mark another milestone for the class as two one-act plays will be shown for the first time in years. The plays will include Time Melts by Brooke Daniels, an abstract piece based on the pieces that compose a personality, and Hush: an Interview with America by James Still, the first student-directed show at Gables about a little girl who has visions of spirits and other colorful characters in her apple tree. The club promises a good showing and, since it will be the last for the year, it is not to be missed.