MSMS Drama Club Puts on First 2015-2016 Production
(from left to right) Alex Leise, Haley Hsu, West Givens, Michael Kyzar, Emily Shy, and Griffin Emerson all pose after Drama Club’s performance of Family 2.0.
November 30, 2015
With “Gold on the Ceiling” by the Black Keys playing in the background, an audience of students milled about Shackleford auditorium while members of the MSMS Drama Club rushed about the stage preparing for their first play of the year. After a backstage discussion with the actors in the small, sectioned-off portion of Shack auditorium, Director West Givens greeted an audience of peers with, “Feel free to laugh. It’s a comedy so that’s kind of the goal of [the play],” and then handed the production off to the cast of five: Emily Shy, Michael Kyzar, Alex Leise, Haley Hsu and Griffin Emerson.
In a ten-minute play titled “Family 2.0,” the five student actors parodied family life, work and relationships. Kyzar, playing a husband tired of his “same old boring job, same old boring boss, same old boring life,” decides to switch his family for a new one. Shy, Hsu and Leise, playing the wife, daughter and son respectively, soon accepted their new family member after several bartering conversations.
“Do you pee in the shower? Any history of baldness in the family?” said Shy, eliciting ripples of laughter from the audience. “No, on the contrary, my family is very hairy,” said Kyzar, to even more applause.
Once, Emerson, playing the first husband appeared on set, said, “Work was rough. The employees tried to mount an uprising again,” more laughter ensued. After acknowledging his replacement’s new position in the family, Emerson begged, “But I don’t want to go! I can be out of the way. I can go in the corner. I can be another kind. I can be the family dog,” and soon his character was reduced to barks. The play concluded with a mad rush of shouting while all five actors turned on one another for various misunderstandings and complaints.
After the performances “chaotic” conclusion, senior Greg Parker said, “Oh my goodness gracious! It was so funny. I have a weird sense of humor, but I found it great when he came in and said, ‘Yeah, my family’s old and I want a new one.’”
Kyzar, who ended the production precariously perched on a sofa shying away from the other cast members said, “I think all of us were a little bit nervous, but we put a lot of time into out parts.” The actors came from various backgrounds in theatrics including previous school and church productions. Kyzar said, “This has been the first time I have gotten back into acting and I look forward to doing something like this in college.”
Drama Club Co-President Sasha Edwards, who was proud of the “Family 2.0” performance but claimed to have not done much planning for it, said, “We are going to do another play soon with SADD club. There are two mini parts to it and each one is 10 minutes. We based it off of generic domestic violence seen on screen but showed the victims’ point of view.”
Parker, SADD Club President, also looks forward to the upcoming production, “I’m going to go [to the next production] regardless because SADD club is organizing it. [Sasha] did a really good job (writing). We just had a lot of practices so far, but when we come back the actors will go off the books.”
