There’s nothing so beautiful as first love. There’s also nothing quite as crazy.
Iola High School’s drama department presents two one-act plays tonight and Friday that explore the lengths young lovers will go in the name of true love.
Presenting a play during a pandemic comes with several challenges, forensics teacher and director Regina Chriestenson said. Performances will be at 7 p.m. at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
She picked two one acts by Don Zolidis, “The Devil in Sherman Marsh” and “The Staggering Heartbreak of Jasmine Merriwether,” to give students flexibility in the event of an outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Many of the roles are small, with one or two lines, that could be picked up by other students if someone was unavailable.
One student is currently in quarantine and won’t be available; another student stepped into that role. Another student was unavailable for Wednesday’s dress rehearsal, and it was unknown if that person would be able to perform.
The play also was easy to adapt for social distancing. Students do occasionally touch, but they can spread out across the stage. They also wear masks.
The audience also will be asked to wear masks and social distance.
Tickets are $5 at the door; USD 257 students are free. Family units will sit together and a Bowlus usher will seat each group.
The play will be streamed online on Broadway on Demand on Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $10 and you must create a free account on the service. The link will be posted on the IHS Theater and Forensics Facebook page.
The Devil in Sherman Marsh
Austin Morris plays the title character with manic relish. He’s a classic nerd, bullied by his peers who spend their time making fart noises and telling “your mama” jokes.
Even the school counselor (Em Ator) suggests Sherman should try to become a little more popular by blending in. Tell a fart joke. Sniff some glue, she suggests.
What makes matters worse is that Sherman is in love with the beautiful and popular Amber, played with a snobbish aloofness by Macie Hoag. Sherman wants to take her to prom, but he’ll have to go through the Big Bully, Toby, played by a swaggering Bobby Lewis, and Toby’s sidekick, played by Samuel Karhoff Jr.
He’s also a big fan of the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, which is used as a plot point as he discovers an unusual card in his deck that summons Lucifer, the smooth-talking debonair devil Jonathon Poffenbarger.
Sherman can make all his wishes come true, for the small price of his soul.
And, as wishes go, things don’t quite turn out as expected.
Sherman is appalled that the educational system is churning out mindless drones, and wishes popularity equals intelligence. Now all the popular kids are not just mean, but they’re smarter than him, too.
