Magical characters and school bullying will be center stage in a pair of performances at Elmwood Park High School this weekend.
Students in the high school’s theater program will be performing back-to-back one-act plays this weekend in the high school’s auditorium, first at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, followed by a matinee 2 p.m. Nov. 1.
“Harry’s Hotter at Twilight” is the first short play, followed by “Bang Bang You’re Dead”.
“Harry’s Hotter at Twilight” is a comedic and satirical play poking fun at the films and characters that revolve around fairy tale fiction. “Bang Bang You’re Dead” is a more serious play revolving around the mind of a bullied and depressed student who takes out his deadly frustrations on his parents and fellow students.
Noah Pligge, the director of the two plays, said the audience should be prepared for the bitter and the sweet. He said “Bang Bang” is timely, especially in light of the violence that has been taking place at schools across the country.
“I wanted to do this play when I was in high school,” he said. “A movie was made about it in 2002, and we can see how relevant it is today.”
He said the other one-act play, “Harry’s Hotter” is a way to lighten things up for the audience, poking fun at fairy tales, witches and spell-casting wizards that have been popular in movie theaters.
Tyler Pesko, 17, attends Elmwood Park High School and is looking forward to the performing. He will be playing the main character in “Bang Bang.”
“It’s always fun to play somebody different other than who you are,” Pesko said.
He said the play isn’t about an actual school shooting.
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“It’s about how someone who feels they have no options,” he said. “It touches on the after-effects.”
Anna Sullivan, 17, has been involved in the school’s theater program since she was a freshman and enjoys the family atmosphere among her fellow actors.
“I’ve always been a drama queen, so I enjoy acting,” she said. “When I was young, I would walk around the house in different costumes.”
She believes people will enjoy the lighter fare in “Harry’s Hotter.”
“It’s a parody of all the different stories,” she said. “It’s made up of the multiple different characters in Twilight and Harry Potter.”
Pesko hopes to see a packed house at the performances.
“Hopefully they see how much we put into it and hopefully they get something out of it,” he said.
Twitter: @DavidDPollard