Once again, Riverside’s annual short shorts festival has given students the opportunity to perform and showcase their hard work and amazing plays to the community. The performances took place at Riverside Secondary School, on the dates of Wednesday 20 through to Saturday 30 for the MET Fest.
For the eighth year in a row, Ms. Nicole Roberge has invited some of her alumni and Grad 2019 directors to help produce some short one act plays for the Acting class. This year, there was a total of seven shows that were in rotation for the four nights during the Festival of Short Shorts. Many audience members came two nights to watch different shows.
Each year, the annual festival of Short Shorts celebrates short, sharp one act plays which are a collective of skits directed and organized by students who perform and express their creativity in the form of live theatre. Students must tackle character, plot, and conflict rapidly in one act plays. These plays are based on students’ ability as actors to portray character driven narratives.
The festival facilitates students in acting classes by helping them develop their abilities as actors and learn the importance of character and plot. “It got me out of my comfort zone, and it gave me time to learn how to improvise, to learn how to memorize a script, and to meet deadlines,” said grade 12 Maebel Sirimanotham. One of the biggest challenges of being part of the short shorts is the amount of work that goes into preparing, staying committed, and most importantly, truly getting closer with castmates.
“It’s a really cool event and an opportunity for kids to get up on stage and perform,” said Roberge. It’s usually drama or comedy and doesn’t involve musicals or any singing or dancing.
All the efforts on these Short Shorts helped students prepare for the MET Fest, where one of the plays went on to the district wide theatre festival on Saturday, November 30. MET Fest is Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam’s nine high schools getting together and bringing their best work. Schools get to perform their one act plays, and finally the winning school gets to perform at Douglas College for Provincial level. On November 30, Riverside’s play was selected as second place for “Radium Girls.” At Provincials, if Terry Fox Secondary is unable to perform their first place one act play “God of Carnage,” Riverside’s play will go to the Provincials on April 2020.
Congratulations to Riverside’s performing arts department!
Photo courtesy of Maebel Sirimanotham.
