TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Mitchell High troupe to peform interactive play

ADVERTISEMENT

By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: November 7, 2009

Dig deep in your closets, all you Gen-Xers out there. Those skinny ties, fat shoulder pads and fluorescent leg warmers are making a comeback - for one weekend anyway as the J.W. Mitchell High School Thespian Troupe 6272 will turn the clock back 20 years when it presents the interactive play, "The Awesome '80s Prom."

The play will be performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the school's cafeteria.

There has never been a play at J.W. Mitchell High School in its 9-year history, a big reason being that the school was built without a theater. Instead, Mitchell has had to take its shows on the road, to the Center for Performing Arts at River Ridge High School.

"The Awesome '80s Prom" gets around the need for a formal theater. As an interactive show, the entire room is the theater, with the audience immersed in and considered part of the setting.

During what arguably is the best-known interactive show, "Tony n' Tina's Wedding," the audience members are the "guests." The actors, portraying the other guests, are interspersed among the audience.

During "The Awesome '80s Prom," when the audience steps into the Mitchell cafeteria, they will suddenly travel in time and space back to 1989. They will be encouraged to party on at the Wanaget High Senior Prom, intermingling with a cast of actors portraying a who's who of '80s high school movie stereotypes - the jock, the foreign exchange student, the geek, the hottie head cheerleader, all decked out in the styles of the era and talking in that, like, totally radical way-cool lingo.

The play, which won the 2006 Improv Theatre Award for Best Interactive Show, gives writing credit to Ken Davenport and "the Class of 1989", referring to the show's original cast, explained Mitchell drama teacher and director David O'Hara.

While there are a few scripted segments and guidelines for elements a cast should include, a lot of the show is improvised, with the actors working off audience members, who will be treated as though they are fellow promgoers.

"It should be a blast," O'Hara said. "They're encouraged to get audience members to dance."

Here and there, the cast will assign roles to audience members without warning. For instance, one man will be brought up as "the coach" and will be given a big retirement sendoff with testimonials. The fun in these moments, O'Hara said, is that the recipient has no idea what's coming.

Because the show is improvised, the cast had to go through an unconventionally rigorous rehearsal process that included a lot of research.

The 25 students in the show studied a video called "Decade of Decadence" and have gone through the entire VH1 "I Love the '80s" series to familiarize themselves with cultural treasures ranging from "Dynasty" to Dr. Ruth, along with the major news events of the era.

"They're getting a pretty intense education," O'Hara said.

"The Awesome 80s Prom" will be performed at J.W. Mitchell High School, 2323 Little Road, in the school cafeteria at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12 through Saturday, Nov. 14. with the pre-show beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7 and will be available at the box office on the day of show only.

To encourage audience participation, there is a $2 discount for anyone who comes dressed in 1980s-style clothing.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT