Casa Grande playwrights shine in shorts showcase

For only the second time since Casa Grande High School’s theater program first introduced its annual “Fall One-Acts” show - a popular showcase of short plays, performed by student theater artists - the school’s fledgling playwrights are lending their talents to the production. Titled “7 Wonders,” the 2018 version of the show - which opened last weekend - is a series of seven plays written by Casa Grande students.

“The last time,” notes Drama instructor John Rustan, “we got a lot of very dark plays that had elements of gunplay, violence, and suicide. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, last semester I requested something that was not as tragic as what we had before.”

Rustan has been the Drama teacher at Casa Grande High School since 2008. With an MA in theatre arts from Occidental College and a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from the University of Oregon, Rustan has worked professionally as an actor, playwright, and dialect coach. He has directed all levels of academic theater, and often directs the shows performed by his Casa students.

The seven plays featured in “7 Wonders” were written by the Intermediate/Advanced Drama class last spring. After multiple rounds of judging, four judges selected the works that seemed the most stage-worthy. This assignment allowed the playwrights to exercise their creative capabilities, as well as practice newly acquired writing techniques. Rustan believes the students benefit from this kind of hands-on production process.

“I think it’s a valuable thing,” he says. “I try to make it easy, taking the playwriting step by step, starting with a couple of characters and writing monologues for each one. That’s how I got started. I worked with a professor [at Occidental College] and he had us all write plays. We got to produce them, see them on stage and work with the directors, and that’s a valuable experience. I want to try and give that experience to the students here.”

By allowing the young theater artists to literally run the show, Rustan notes, a certain amount of youthful, stressful energy has definitely manifested backstage. For Lily Gutierrez, who’s been in the drama program for three years, this is an unfamiliar situation. Both a featured playwright - she wrote the play “Phone Call” - and an actor in a different show, Gutierrez testifies to the theatrical chaos that accompanied preparations for this year’s “Fall One-Acts” show.

“The rehearsal process this year has been very disorganized, which never happens,” she allows. “Usually, the one-acts are always directed by our teacher, so we’d have a concrete schedule for rehearsals. It’s been very hectic, but I think it’ll be more of a strength than a weakness. I’m excited to see how it all comes together.”

Although the process may seem manic to some, the showcase provides a significant opportunity for those who wish to test the waters of theater. These small shows are often appealing to new, younger students, because they are not as daunting as the full-length, main production the school puts on in the spring. With each short lasting only ten minutes in length, this series of plays are not extremely time-consuming. This does not mean that effort and commitment are absent among the participants, though. The students have taken months to orchestrate this event, spending many hours on revisions and rehearsals in order to make the experience enjoyable for the audience.

Simple audience observation is not the sole component of the show, however. One of the plays, “Evading Space” by Hannah Von Thal, has an interactive scene where a random audience member is chosen to decide the fate of one of the characters.

All of the plays have distinctive themes, including romance, comedy, and magic, with various topical references designed to amuse the high school demographic. Some of the shorts - Jackson Vaughn’s “I Quit,” for example - discuss elements of high school life that most students will resonate with.

“We work really hard,” says Gutierrez. “We try to put a lot of truth, effort, and personal essence into the plays. We’re fortunate enough that our cast has good chemistry, and we can work together very well. And [the plays are] fun! We were told to move away from dark-heartedness, and a lot of them are very funny. It will be a fun time for everyone.”