Show Must Go On, Even During A Pandemic

OAK LAWN, IL — Limited to producing the fall play via Zoom, Mike Badger and David Donnick needed to find a creative way to inspire Richards High School drama students to buy into performing by video feed. So they created an original concept and let students write the script.

Badger and Donnick centered their idea around the popular app ‘Among Us: The Imposter Rises.’ They took the basic premise and expanded that universe into a creative and original theatrical performance.

The students and directors created an entire script including plot, dialogue, and character development. “I couldn’t be more impressed by a group of young people. They started with an idea and made it their own. It was a great experience,” said Donnick, who serves as an assistant speech coach.

"Despite all of the challenges we are currently facing, it was wonderful to see our students being creative, laughing together, and creating something that is totally theirs. Instead of memorizing lines, they were writing them. They developed their own characters and their individual quirks. I appreciated the dedication and the creativity and was thrilled that we were able to have some fun along the way,” said Badger, who teaches English.

Donnick, Badger and their students faced unique challenges.

“Attendance, internet connections, making sure all of the different devices could support what we needed, trying to explain the ideas to everyone, getting everyone on the same page, what to do about costumes, backgrounds, monitoring the different break out rooms and the creative process, the numerous recording takes mirrored the repetition of scenes on the stage, and many more. However, the students embraced the process and made it all work with great success. It was very different, but it was good,” Badger said.

Badger and Donnick assigned students to three groups to mirror the format of Among Us. Students first played the game “to become familiar with the jargon and quirks,” Donnick said, and then worked on developing their characters.

“They read each other’s biographies and brainstormed funny interactions between characters, events, and many other initial ideas to make it seem like a real environment,” Donnick said.

With guidance from the directors, students collaborated on the script.

“They had the basic information, but had to write the dialogue and activities. The directors would facilitate the creative process, answer questions, and organize, but often had to stay out of the way,” Donnick said.

“The students took over and ran with the ideas. Once finished, the directors cleaned up the order, dialogue, and organized everything. We are now in the recording process for all of the scenes. Although the game is a popular APP, and our play is based on that APP, the final product is 100% the creative endeavor of our cast and organized by the directors,” Donnick added.

Badger focused heavily on script and character development, acting, and organization, while Donnick focused on script development and served as the primary technical person that facilitated all of the filming and editing of the actual play.

“However, the real credit goes to this group of students that took a risk and had some fun to create something that they can take with them for the rest of their lives,” Donnick said.