On May 3 and May 5, three plays, “The Actor’s Nightmare,” “15-Minute Hamlet,” and “Romeo and Juliet: Six very Busy Days,” were performed at North Platte High School.

This group of plays differs from the spring play from last year. Sophomore Nirvana Mendoza (Tree #1) said, “These are three mini-plays instead of one big play like we had last year, and I think that’s better for people that are just starting out.” Senior Max Wohler (Mercutio, George) said, “It’s a lot more interesting than some of the other shows that we’ve done before.” Wohler also said, “We have a lot more diverse cast, I’m the only one from my grade who’s doing the spring play this year.”

Junior Breanna Patterson (Juliet) said that her favorite part of play production is the rehearsals. She said, “The first few are always a bit shaky, everyone’s stuck in their scripts. In the first read-throughs we have to figure out how to pronounce things, how to get the inflections right, but once you get into it, it’s always fun to see how everyone fits together.” Sophomore Greg Stoner (Romeo, Henry) agrees with Patterson. “Just being able to see where the play starts, and seeing how everyone grows and being able to show everyone how much effort everyone has put in at the performances is my favorite part,” said Stoner.

Stoner said the environment of the spring plays are more relaxed than other productions. He said, “The spring plays are different from the musical, because the musical is a big production, and the plays are just as much fun, but they’re a little more laid back.” Sophomore Michael Curtis (Benvolio, Claudius) said, “[I like] being able to express myself, and not having to worry what other people think, and overall just being able to do what you want and be who you are. In acting, it’s different because you don’t have to worry about what other people think, where everywhere else, you have to worry about what other people say, think, or do, and [acting] is just so open and free.”

Actors morph into their characters in many different ways. “Often times at rehearsals, I screw around, and me screwing around eventually turns into me getting a character. I’ve been improving my lines as we go on, mixing things up is a big part of how I get a character. If you try something new every day, then you say, ‘Oh, I like this instead of that,’” said Wohler.

Patterson’s method for getting into character is to forget yourself completely. She said, “I am not a serious person.  If a serious situation is put in front of me, I take it, tweak it, pinch it, until it starts to laugh because it’s ticklish.” She also said, “When I get into character, I say ‘Who is she?’ When she’s with her parents, she’s a spoiled little brat, but when she’s interacting with just her mother, and her mother is being a flamboyant, crazy fangirl, she’s actually the voice of reason.” Mendoza said, “Mr. Cooper is wise, and picks a character that you are semi-like, and from there, you just kind of pick out what you want to do with your character.”

The whole cast was very excited for the production. Sophomore Zac Oschner (Hamlet, Friar Lawrence) said, “I think it [was] cool to show the audience the different styles of plays that we can do. Hamlet’s more old English, the Actor’s Nightmare has more modern English and it’s more of a dark comedy, but then Romeo and Juliet is just something everyone enjoys.” Wohler said, “I [was] excited to finish out my high school acting career with a lot of the people that I started it with.”