By Sophia Ahmadi, Courier Staff Writer
For the past four months, James Logan’s drama department has been working on their production of “Playing for Time” and soon, all of their hard work and dedication will be seen.
I remember heading up to the drama room after school one day to audition for Logan’s spring play. I didn’t know what was ahead of me. At this time, no one even knew which production we were taking on this year, we just wanted to be apart of it. The next day, when the cast list was put up, I nervously walked to the bulletin board and searched for my name. At first, I felt a bit of sadness when I didn’t see it right away like I expected to. But then, as I scanned the bottom of the page, my stomach dropped, and I saw my name. I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to begin.
When rehearsals finally started after a few weeks, I walked in the drama room not knowing what to expect. Just like the drama one class that I’m currently in, we started the rehearsals with a warm up game that I was familiar with. Then, when the drama department finally announced the play , we all started to realize what we were getting into.
“Playing for Time” is a play written by Arthur Miller, the author of other popular playrights such as “The Crucible” and “Death of a Salesman”. The play takes place during World War II in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The play follows the story of Fania Fenelon, a famous french pianist who was arrested and taken to the camps for being apart of the French Resistance. Once there, she is asked to join the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz and creates a strong relationship with Alma Rosé, the conductor. Fania soon learns that the orchestra members are given better treatment and generally get to live longer than the other prisoners. Whilst watching this production, viewers will get a better visual understanding of what these women and men in the camps went through and how they would do absolutely anything to survive.
After finding out I got a part in this production, my cast, crew and I have invested countless hours after school towards bringing this show to life as best as possible.
Our show opens this Thursday, April 20th in the Center of Performing Arts at 4pm. We will also be performing on April 21st-23rd at 7pm.