This past Tuesday, Hingham High School held the Senior One Acts, an annual show featuring solely senior-directed one-act plays. There were two plays included in the show, both of which were directed by recently-graduated drama students.

The first show was directed by recent graduates Shea Kushnir and Greta Eustace. The show was called Us And Them. It was about two groups of people who want the same land, but they don’t like each other. They end up building a wall to divide the land, and that’s when the real conflict starts to arise.

Director Shea Kushnir said in an interview, “I think it went really well given that my cast was tripping over a few of their lines that afternoon during tech rehearsal. They did mess up a bit (the audience couldn’t tell, but Greta and I knew), but they had no trouble getting back on track which is super important in theatre. Greta and I wanted to do a show simple enough to put on in a couple weeks and we found Us and Them. We were inspired by SNL’s over the top acting and wanted our actors to exaggerate every line to make it funny.”

Part of the play’s success can be attributed to the directors’ casting decisions. Since the characters in the play were what Shea Kushnir described as rather “generic,” she and Greta focused on grouping people together who would collaborate well as family members in order to authenticate the relationships among and between the two rival families.

“I LOVE directing. It’s so much fun to work with different people and in Senior One Acts we get people from everywhere in the Drama Club,” continued Shea Kushnir regarding her experience. “Also I loved giving bigger roles to underclassmen and seeing what they brought to the stage. Everyone is so talented and when given the chance they can all shine. [My advice is] most of the time senior directors don’t lay out enough rehearsals and I think that’s really important if they want to put on a good show.”

The other play put on that night was called So….What Are We Doing Tonight? This show was directed by recent graduates William Brady and Andre Lavoie. It was about two people planning for a night of fun when things get out of hand while they are deciding what to do due to friends and celebrities causing problems.

Senior William Brady stated,”I think the show went very well. The cast was able to keep the energy up the whole time while still being able to have fun on stage. The audience seemed to enjoy it very much as well, thanks to the cast and their characters. When looking through hundreds of scripts online, this one first stuck out to Andre and me because of the plot. We liked how many of the characters were high schoolers and we could tell that there were a lot of places to go with each character. Also the script was really funny right from the start so we knew it would do well.”

When casting, the directors of this play looked for students who would have fun at rehearsals and still be able to perform well and effectively in front of an audience.

“Thanks to this, it was really easy for the cast to bond and have a good time at the show and rehearsals which allowed for a fun and exciting experience,” spoke William Brady of his cast. “I enjoyed directing a lot. Andre and I enjoyed blocking the scenes together and working with the cast regarding acting tips and character choices. It was also a good experience to have as a leader.”

For future directors, Brady advises that “it is important to have a balance between having fun and getting work done. Without any fun or bonding at the rehearsals, it’s hardly worth it to do the show because no one enjoys the rehearsals. Because of this, I suggest choosing a cast that you think would not just be good actors but good cast mates too. Also, if you don’t push the actors enough to the point where the show does well then it’s not fun for anyone. It’s great to do a show really well and know that it was done well too.”

Another point of view comes from audience member Genevra Donnelly, a freshman at Hingham High School. Genervra Donnelly shared, “I think [the two plays] went over well! There may have been a few little mess ups here and there, but they were trivial compared to the overall talent displayed. The actors clearly spent a lot of time considering their roles and how to portray them perfectly. The shows were entertaining and made me want to be a part of one acts next year!”

Donnelly described her favorite part of the night, which was when student-actor Connor Keliher “had his little conversation on the phone. He was hilarious and really captured the awkward Dad who was trying to fit in. Also, in Us and Them one of my favorite parts was when Benton [Perry] and Colleen [Keohane] went on a tangent about chickens and sheep crossing over their line. That was definitely one of the funniest parts of the night!”

This time of the year is bittersweet. The Senior One Acts marks the final show of the school year and a sign that summer is closer than it may seem. As for the recently-graduated seniors, the Senior One Acts is their last high school show ever. Underclassmen will always cherish the memories made with the class of 2018 and everyone at HHS wishes the graduates good luck with college or wherever else life takes them. As Garrison Keillor once said, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”