GDS Theater Lab put on its fourth-ever show from April 4 through April 6. Dance and acting teacher Maria Watson, who is also the Theater Lab’s director, chose Alexis Scheer’s Our Dear Dead Drug Lord as this semester’s production.
The play was made up of four main roles: junior Natalia Freedman as Pipe, sophomore Natasha Rubinson as Zoom, sophomore Cai Roberson as Squeeze and junior Sophia Ades as Kit. There were also two supporting roles: freshman Natalie Ogden as Little Sister and Spanish teacher Nico Sheets as Pablo Escobar.
The play, set in 2008 Miami, Florida, follows four girls, Pipe, Zoom, Squeeze and Kit, as they hold club meetings for their “Dead Leaders Club.”
Rubinson, who acts in both Theater Lab and the spring musical, explained that Theater Lab is more independent than the fall and spring shows put on by the GDS theater department. “Usually in other productions there’s a lot more faculty involvement,” she said. Shows on the mainstage require more faculty tech and stage support. Watson is able to be one of the only faculty members who is heavily involved in Theater Lab because it takes place in L200.
Rehearsals for Theater Lab began in January and mostly took place during morning flex time. These morning rehearsal times allowed kids who were involved in the spring musical Cinderella and in sports to participate in Theater Lab. “It’s an opportunity to invite people who aren’t usually in theater and get them into it,” Rubinson explained.
Watson, who created Theater Lab along with high school performing arts teacher and department chair Jason Strunk, chose the play, directed the performance and ran the soundboard. For Theater Lab, Watson prefers to select plays with diverse roles written by women. “One of the key things for me was to really try to promote female playwrights,” Watson said.
The Theater Lab’s mission statement says, “The GDS Theater Lab is committed to maximizing diversity in our play selection and performances.” Watson added that Theater Lab’s diverse program is unique to GDS.
The performances take place away from the black box, in room L200, which is the dance studio. That means that Theater Lab needs less tech support than the fall and spring shows. “We have just a handful of people working on the shows,” Watson said.
Additionally, the small cast and crew allowed Watson to select plays with more explicit content. Our Dear Dead Drug Lord explores the subjects of depression, teen pregnancy, suicide, smoking, and drugs. “I feel like we do material that might be a little edgier than the shows that are upstairs,” Watson said. “Things like that, that kids go through all the time and are a part of life.”
Watson was concerned about how parents would receive the show. “You know they’re going to like Cinderella, but you never know if they are going to like Our Dear Dead Drug Lord,” she said. However, after the performance, Watson received positive feedback from parents. “I thought it was really creative and different and well performed,” Paige Chabora, a GDS parent, said in an interview.
Rubinson explained that because there were only six cast members and four main characters, they developed a connection that was visible onstage. “It means there’s more each character has to do,” Rubinson said in comparison to other GDS productions, “But I also think it’s more powerful.”
High school history teacher Kim Nguyen agreed with Rubinson. “Everything is more noticeable. I think the actors really stand out more,” he said of the smaller cast size.
Chabora explained that the small cast and stage increased the impact of the show. “I thought the intimacy of the audience was fun. It’s a small space and you could tell that everyone was really totally engaged,” Chabora said. She also noted that the audience seemed to radiate the same energy during the performance. “I felt like the audience was having a collective reaction.”
Watson explained that Theater Lab is already changing, with more students coming to see the shows. “Who knows what it’s going to be like in the future,” she said.