SEQUIM — Students at Olympic Peninsula Academy will perform two plays at Sequim High School auditorium on Friday and Saturday.
Students in grades 1-5 will open at the auditorium at 533 N. Sequim Ave., with a 15-20 minute performance of “Dragon Trouble” at 7 p.m. Friday and at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Students in grades 6-12 follow with “The Big Bad Musical” both afternoons, and a third performance at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The performances are free of charge; a $5 donation is suggested. Light snacks and refreshments will be available during intermission.
“The monies made go back into the OPA drama program for sets, costumes, scripts, etc.,” said Michele Canepa, one of the drama teachers at Olympic Peninsula Academy.
Canepa and Dee Dee Nielsen have been in charge of the drama department since 2008; this will be their 13th production. Together with music director Sara Benjamin, the pair have been working intensely with students and volunteers to prepare the production.
This will be OPA’s first production since 2019; COVID-19 shut down the production students were preparing for the spring of 2020, to the lasting disappointment of those involved.
Teachers “didn’t even know until this semester” if they would have a production this year, leading to an abbreviated preparation time, Nielsen said. Students received their scripts in late March.
“We’re cramming,” Nielsen said. “We had one week to build all our sets.”
“We spent the week at the theater after rehearsals building sets, painting and working out the quirks in the sound system,” said Canepa. “The students are working hard to prepare.”
“Dragon Trouble,” stars 20 elementary school-aged performers, many of whom have never been on stage before. Familiar characters like knights, princesses, dragons and tricksters are depicted in an unusual way. It also features an uncommon character: a jackalope, a mythical jackrabbit with antlers often seen in postcards from the southwest.
At a recent after-school rehearsal the students were working on projecting, blocking and remembering their lines, appearing joyful both on and off set.
Two narrators, Bradley Mader and Ashley Elliott, stand on either side of the stage, explaining the action as it unfolds. Every child except the jackalope (played by Azlyn Blessington) has a speaking part.
Elliott said that this is the first time she’s been in a play and has learned about projecting and memorization. She said she tried out for the narrator role and “luckily” got chosen.
“It’s cool that I get to be with my friends in this play,” Elliott said.
The sixth-12th grade performance “The Big Bad Musical” centers on a trial, putting three crimes of folk story wolves together at the feet of one wolf.
It features a cast of 18 new and experienced performers. Nolan Valenzuela anchors the cast and set as the kooky judge, seated back center stage, with the defendant and her attorney, played by Paloma Franco and Kailah Blake, on stage left.
Prosecutor Aiden Carlquist-Bundy or understudy Aiyana Dennis dominate stage right, while behind sit a powerful group of character actors, whose performances feature many laugh-out-loud moments.
These young performers are rehearsing three different endings to the play. Which one will be performed will depend on each audience, because they will be the jury.
The cast has a special experience in store for Saturday night: a one-time performance imitating a blooper reel.
