Theater is a performing art that has long captivated audiences with its unique storytelling elements that include movement, dialogue, and visuals. All high school theater programs in Massachusetts have the opportunity to combine these elements into a production performed at the High School Drama Festival throughout the month of March.
On Saturday, March 1, WATA competed in the preliminary round of the METG High School Drama Festival. The preliminary competitions are held at fourteen different schools throughout the state. WATA competed at Leominster High School this past weekend against a total of eight schools.
WATA performed Stupid … Bird, a play by Aaron Posner. It is an adaptation of The Seagull, a play written by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov in the 1890s. Stupid … Bird is a heavy and dark play that explores the themes of mental health issues and self-harm. Ironically, it is also a comedy as the outcome of the play is a hopeful one.
“[The Seagull is] an important play because it shifts the style of playmaking into […] realism, which is a focus on the actual state of reality instead of […] romanticism,” artistic director Michael Towers said.
Stupid … Bird follows a story similar to that of The Seagull. It surrounds a family which includes the main character Conrad, his mother, his mother’s boyfriend, his girlfriend, his uncle, his best friend, and the cook. However, halfway through the production, Conrad tries to kill himself but survives.
“[The main character] decides not to kill himself by telling [the audience] that [he is] going to stop the play. The audience is reminded throughout the whole [show] that they’re in a play, so it’s kind of interesting: there’s not a straight-up plot because there’s a lot going on,” junior and assistant director Grace Hinkle said.
In preparation for the competition, students in Play Lab worked to develop the show from the start of the year. After reading multiple different works, they chose this play and worked with students from acting classes who had also read both works.
“Over [December] break, we worked on cutting it down to the forty minutes that it has to be for this competition,” Hinkle said. “The competition play is very much student-led in a way that the other plays aren’t, so it’s much more student-driven design-wise, acting-wise, and [when it came to] a lot of choices that we get to make. Then over February break, that was our big push week and we worked on everything then.”
There were a few basic parameters that each school had to meet in their performance. Each team had only five minutes to set the stage, 40 minutes to perform, and five minutes to “strike the show” or remove all set pieces from the stage after a performance. These parameters were quite strict, as any school who exceeded any one of these time limits would be disqualified. For this, WATA had a team of 30-40 people who were solely responsible for manipulating the sets.
“It was hard to get a license to perform this play because it’s a two-hour play, and we want to tell that story in forty minutes,” Towers said.
In addition to the basic parameters that each school was judged on, every element of design was evaluated in each performance including sets, lighting, costumes, sound, props, and makeup. With their dedication and hard work, WATA managed to earn multiple awards. Seniors Carissa Wong and Andrew Mejia were named to the All Star company for Excellence in Original Music Composition. Junior Hayden Pelta, sophomore Tyler Pelta, and senior Téa Munichiello were named to the All Star company for Excellence in Lighting Design. Seniors Campbell Twitchell and Ruby Davis were named to the All Star company for Excellence in Acting.
Hinkle has participated in this festival for the last three years, and finds the preliminary round especially to have a very positive atmosphere. According to Hinkle, it can be a place with positive feedback and a great way to meet other people.
“It’s a competition, obviously, but especially at the preliminary round, everyone is just happy to be there and […] is focusing on making art and appreciating everyone else’s art,” Hinkle said.
Towers believes that winning is not the most important part of the competition, but focusing on the elements that are in the team’s control. According to Towers, it is hard to predict an outcome in such competitions, as art is subjective.
“Our objective is to build truthful, meaningful, thought-provoking art, and then we enter the festival,” Towers said. “I have found that when you focus your energy on winning, you’re probably gonna lose, because you can’t control it.”
There will be a performance of Stupid … Bird on Thursday, March 13 in the PAC at 8 p.m. The semi-finals will be held on Saturday, March 15 and one of the seven sites for this round is Westford Academy.
“It was just so much fun, the energy was so great, everyone was so nice […] and it was just really fun being there with so many other theater kids from all over,” freshman Iris Ledell said.
ratheesh • Mar 7, 2025 at 8:47 pm
Great article. Loved it