Griffith Middle School Theatre Company
Winter 2022 - The Brunch ClubWhat will happen when you leave six high school seniors alone in detention? Will they kill each other? Will they turn into flesh-hungry zombies? Will they unleash plagues upon the world? Will they do all of the above and more? Four hilarious scenes show the many possible outcomes for six unsupervised students.
Friday & Saturday, February 4th & 5th, @7PM Sunday, February 6th, @3PM Griffith Jr./Sr. High School Auditorium |
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Winter 2021 - 5th Middle School Drama Night
Wolf and Its Shadows - In the forest at night, Wolf and Dog encounter stories from around the world contrasting wolf images in legend and nature. Traveling toward Dog's home, where Wolf intends to seek employment, the two meet a hunter, a priest and a shepherd, each of whom spins a tale of the evil wolf's foolishness and greed. Wolf responds with very different stories of her own. By dawn, she and Dog understand the high price of freedom. With respect for one another, they choose their separate ways.
In Whodunit?, the detectives may not know who the killer is but the audience knows. An announcer gives them the real facts. Following that, there's the fun of watching the experts—and the amateur—as they struggle to solve the dire murder. Is it the butler? Is it Grandma? It just couldn't be sweet Alice! The wind howls, lights flicker and bloodcurdling screams are heard … some shore done it! Friday, March 12th, @7PM *Streamed Only* Saturday, March 13th, @7PM Sunday, March 14th, @3PM GHS Auditorium |
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Winter 2020 - 4th Middle School Drama Night
Bad news — in the form of severe thunderstorms and an escaped convict — threatens the guests at the Come On Inn of Nova Scotia. By the end of the day, gung-ho aerobics instructor Billie Body is mysteriously murdered during a power outage. Was it the cook’s lemonade that poisoned her, or did someone else have a hand in Body’s death? Who would have the audacity to commit murder under so many noses? Inspector Black, on the scene in search of the escaped convict, has his job cut out for him. As the winds howl, suspicions rage — from Garth the gardener (who weeds with an axe) to an inept doctor on holiday from malpractice suits to a hairdresser who constantly changes her appearance — everyone has a hidden motive to want Billie Body dead. After all, she does have abs “to die for”! Take your audience by storms of laughter with the silly saga of No Body to Murder!
Sir Gawain & The Green Knight gives us Sir Gawain, needing to prove his bravery, accepts a challenge. The trial begins with the knight getting to strike the monstrous Green Knight three times... three blows that the Green Knight will return in a year’s time. During the year, Sir Gawain successfully completes the tests of honesty and loyalty in comic style, but the hapless knight still must meet the Green Knight again with hopes of winning the hand of Lady Elaine, saving Camelot, and upholding the reputation of the Knights of the Round Table. Don't Fear the Reaper follows a day in the life of the Grim Reaper—the day he gets fired. On his first gig of the morning, he's spotted on the doorstep of a young married couple. The husband and wife each decide that it must be the other one's time, and through a series of passive-aggressive strategies they each attempt to lure their partner onto the doorstep, until they learn the important lesson that throwing one's spouse to the Reaper isn't the American way. Next on the Reaper's list is Steve. Steve's soul seems like a routine reaping at first, but ultimately presents a problem unseen for 40,000 years. In his mediocrity, Steve has reached a perfect balance on the scale of good and evil and must choose his own fate on The Fating Game, where God and Satan vie for his soul. As day turns to night, the Reaper meets with God in His office and learns that—due to certain people ending up in the wrong afterlife—it is time to turn over his scythe to the new Reaper, Jeremy (formerly the grim reaper of insects). Insisting that people should be able to die with a little compassion and sympathy, the Reaper steals the scythe and goes rogue. Cornered by God, Satan, Jeremy and his wife, the Reaper is forced to decide whether he should go quietly or take the world down with him. In Dystopia! The Hungry Maze of Divergent Death we see a dystopian future, a group of teens must battle against emotionally sensitive guards, limited budgets, and the trigger-happy Gamemaster to be proclaimed the winner. When the odds are this absurdly bleak, it seems certain that only the main character will make it out alive -- but first the contestants must decide who the main character is. A bloodthirsty send-up of reality TV and young adult fiction. Friday & Saturday, February 7th-8th, @7PM Sunday, February 9th, @3PM GHS Auditorium |
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Winter 2019 - 3rd Middle School Drama Night
Washington's Axe portrays a huckster who tries to sell an antique axe to a customer, purporting that it is the actual hatchet used by George Washington to cut down his father’s prized cherry tree. The situation begs the age-old question: if you replace all the parts of an object, does it still retain its identity?
The Alamo parodies the events of the infamous battle at the Alamo in Texas, where folk hero Davy Crockett summons a superhero team of American legends, including Abraham Lincoln, Lady Liberty, and more, to defend the fortress. It is July 4, 1776 and while the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia are debating the Declaration of Independence, seven women wait in a nearby tavern for the outcome. Betsy Ross experiments with different colors and patterns for the new flag, Martha Washington and Martha Jefferson complain about the Quaker food, Abigail Adams follows the Congressional debate on her laptop, Mrs. Paul Revere plays solitaire on her iPhone, and Mrs. Ben Franklin runs her Underground Railroad operation through her cell phone. The women discuss the same things being argued at Independence Hall and come to some insightful conclusions of their own. The Ladies Declare is a wacky and anachronistic look at an historic day, but is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining. Milestones in Comedy 339 BCE: Aristophanes Discovers the Spit Take follows how Greek playwright Aristophanes discovers his comedic devices while visiting the legendary philosopher Plato, who suffers from writer’s block after his teacher Socrates drank poison. Friday & Saturday, February 8th-9th, @7PM Sunday, February 10th, @3PM GHS Auditorium |
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Winter 2018 - 2nd Middle School Drama Night
The True Story of Cinderella: Boy, did the "evil" stepsister and stepmother get a bum rap. They tell their side of the story...about how little Cinderella martyred herself into subservient and squalor, about how she gave up control of her life, waiting for the right man to take care of her, and about how her two step sisters, Anastasia and Drizella, used education to come out on top. Cinderella is made herself so hapless, hopeless, and helpless that when the big ball comes, Mama has to pretend to be a fairy godmother to convince her to go. Then they have to try and make sparks fly between Cinderella and the Prince so they can finally get her out of the house. A delightful twist on a long-time favorite story.
And Then There Was One: A Spoof: This take-off of Agatha Christie's famous stage mystery is all comedy, filled with hilarious sight gags and dialogue. Ten people are brought together by a mysterious invitation to the Reef Mansion on a tiny, isolated island,. Not one of them knows the host, who is nowhere to be found. Still, she has left an anonymous recording that bodes evil for the guests. Like the chocolate soldiers that inexplicably disappear from the mantel one by one, the guests begin to die one by one. Luckily, Inspector Miles is among the guests, but even she is stymied as to who the murderer could be! In the final scene, we discover the farcical twist! Friday & Saturday, February 2nd-3rd, @7PM Sunday, February 4th, @3PM GHS Auditorium |
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Winter 2017 - Middle School Drama Night
The Anti-Play: A Pompous Drama Teacher obsessed with winning the state drama competition is forcing his students to perform a cutting from the trendy Broadway play Neck-Wuss by Peter Schnauffer. Disgusted by the ridiculous play, the drama students rebel and set out to disqualify themselves from the competition by performing their very own “anti-play” with a few imaginative alterations.
The Audition: A controlling, dictator-like stage manager is holding auditions for a production of Medea! Unfortunately, she gets an interesting selection of actors that show up- A confused girl who doesn’t seem to know her right from left, an air-headed singer, a mime, and a British fellow with something just a little off about him. Can they make it work? Friday & Saturday, February 10th-11th, @7PM GHS Auditorium |