Every year during my high school there would always be auditions held to be in the One Acts Drama Festival. Each school in the area would make a play to be seen by judges where the festival was held and there would only one winner. I never tried out to be in the One Acts Drama Festival but my senior year I did. Everyone at my school who wanted to participate would have to act out a two minute monologue in front of our school’s director, in this case my teacher Mrs. Machaiek, who teaches theatre.
I decided to try out for a part the day before the auditions were to be held. I looked online for monologues and ended up with the monologue known as Nell, a script from Yale. Nell is about a boy who was depressed and suicidal and who just trying to get on with his life. I remember waiting my turn in the auditorium to go up and act my monologue. I remember feeling nervous but excited at the same time before acting my monologue. I heard my name being called so I walked up to the stage and did the best I could. I would find out next week if I had made the play or not.
The day we found out if we were in the play or not was rather exciting . About sixty of us auditioned and only about twenty would get a spot in the play. I couldn’t wait to see if I got a spot in the play and as I walked down the hall to see the list I felt a rush of ex citement. I scanned the list for my name and there it was, Devin Sewall. I felt a sigh of relief and happiness. I got in the play, I woud be playing a townsperson. I wondered what it would be like to be a townsperson and how the first rehearsal would turn out.
The day of the first rehearsal we found out what play we would be acting. We would be showing the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, not the disney version. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a seemingly dark play. It involved many deaths and torture scenes as well as eerie music which was added to the mix. Mrs. Machaiek gave us a background of the play so we would know what we are dealing with and what we needed to portray. I knew a fair amount of people who were in the play and by the end we all had a good chemistry to rely upon.
For the next three weeks we would be rehearsing the Hunchback of Notre Dame to put the show on at Camden Regional Hills High School, the host site. The first half week we would be going over the script, just doing a full run through, to see who gets what lines to say. After reading the script numerous times, we would be put on stage to act the lines out. As a townsperson, I would mainly be saying lines like, “Come on! Start the play! She’s a witch! Yeah! Go on! ” I remember being motivated to do my best so we could advance to States, only one winner would get to go to States out of nine schools.
I remember the day we got our costumes, I would be wearing a salmon tunic with black pants and shoes with a salmon muffin hat. The girls would be wearing dresses and corsets as the gypsies would be wearing festival like clothing. There were many different parts in the play, first there was the townspeople and the gypsies which were the minor part of the show. Then there were the principles the more major parts of the show. There was Quasimodo the Hunchback, La Esmeralda, Frollo the Archdeacon, Prince Phoebus, and then Sister Gudule.
