Northgate High thespians explore children's theatre
By REBECCA LEFTWICH
rebecca@newnan.com
What happens when an elf goes bad?
It’s sad, so sad.
Cassandra Scott, first-year theatre director at Northgate, chose the holiday play around which to create a fundraiser. For $5, those attending were served pancakes and a heaping dose of family-friendly fun. Children’s crafts and Santa awaited in the lobby of the school’s ninth-grade cafeteria, where the event took place.
But it wasn’t just the crowd that benefitted, or even Northgate’s theatre department, which will now be able to purchase new props and costumes. A different experience for her student actors also was important to Scott.
“I wanted them to have some exposure to children’s theatre,” said Scott, whose actors recently finished a run of the one-act drama “Steel Magnolias.” “This was something fun aimed at younger siblings and friends, a warm-hearted family kind of show.”
Fifteen actors led the show, with another 10 student drama volunteers directing crafts. A simple set design required no crew from among the 60-120 drama students who pass through the program each year, including freshman Abby Weatherford and senior Cali Fain.
Fain found drama as a freshman looking for somewhere to fit in.
“It’s a dying art,” Fain said. “It’s a lovely thing to be involved in.”
Weatherford, who had done some community theatre work earlier in her life, knew she wanted to be involved in the drama program once she entered Northgate.
“We’re really a family,” she said.
