State Drama Festival Comes to Sharon

Sharon High School has a proud tradition of being a host site for the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild’s annual statewide drama festival, a time-honored program that brings different high school theatre companies together to compete for awards in everything from acting to lighting design. The Sharon High School Theatre Company has been working diligently for the past three months to produce it’s own entry into the festival, “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”, while also preparing to host the semi-final round of the competition.

“The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus” is a period play set in the fifteen hundreds regaling the tale of a man named John Faustus, a learned doctor who is dissatisfied with the limits of traditional knowledge and strives to achieve an almost god-like intellect. In order to do so, he signs a covenant with a mysterious servant of the devil, Mephistopheles, trading his soul for infinite knowledge and near supernatural powers. As Dr. Faustus travels across the Earth meeting royalty, the Seven Deadly Sins, and the Pope, along the way, his mental and physical descent into the Devil’s realm forces audience members to grapple with questions on greed, morality, and the true meaning of “knowledge”.

The cast and crew of “Doctor Faustus” were among three schools selected at their preliminary round site, Duxbury, to advance on to this semi-final round. Emily Callan, a senior at Sharon High School, is one of two semi -finals coordinators this year. When asked what the responsibilities of the host school during festival were she replied: “It’s our job at semi finals to ensure that the spirit of festival remains. Although we are competing, it’s ultimately a day of fun and theatre: It’s a day where hundreds of creative minds can come together and view works of art. It’s like an art gallery for theatre. As a host school, we need to run an organized, stress-free day and provide for other schools who have never used our space and ensure we do everything in our power to allow them to retain their visions of their shows”.

Catch “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus” in the Sharon High School auditorium during the theatre company’s free performance this Thursday, March 12th at 7:00 PM, or on the day of the festival this Saturday, March 14th at 2:30 PM. On the day of the festival please arrive approximately fifteen minutes early, as doors to the theatre are locked once the show begins.