On Friday, Oct. 8 during Marlow High School’s fourth period, the advanced drama students held a play called “Oh, What A Tangled Web” for the students and faculty in the school’s auditorium with an admission fee of one dollar.

The show was later repeated the following evening, Saturday, Oct. 9 at 7:00 p.m. for the public.

The drama play involved a disastrous situation in the household of the Wilsons’ where a girl named Jan Wilson, portrayed by sophomore Emma Samples, got herself into a predicament as the result of her numerous lies.

It started off in the living room of the Wilson family house, with the two girls–Jan and Chris Wilson–having casual talk about Chris’s new job.

As Chris, played by junior McKenna Travis, got ready for her new job, the phone started ringing.

“Can you get that for me?” Chris asked Jan as she went up the stairs.

Jan answered the call to hear a man named Tim Scarlotta, played by junior Bryce Duncan, asking to talk to Chris later that morning.

After the phone call, Jan told Chris that Tim was coming over soon to ask Chris a question.

Jan was in charge of creating an excuse so Chris could be there when Tim arrived.

While Jan is on the phone with Mr. Quigley, Chris’s boss portrayed by junior Tyler Hertzler, Jan suddenly blurted out the excuse that Chris is dead out of panic.

Jan decided to not tell Chris what she really said and sent Chris out the door to Tim’s house.

The two girls’ parents, Shirley and Frank Wilson, played by seniors Gracious McMains and Matthew Derichsweiler, soon arrived home with Shirley in tears.

The mother of the Wilsons was already dealing with a dilemma; the family cat, Juliet, had gone missing. 

The Wilson family got visits from Tim and the Quigleys; they all believe that the Wilsons are upset because of Chris’s supposed death.

In reality, Shirley and Frank are upset about their missing cat.

They all scrambled confused around the house, and soon realized that Jan had lied and caused an enormous mess. 

However, it all resolved with a frantic Jan trying to cover things up and a slice of cake to end the play.

This twenty-five minute play could not have been done without the hardworking background crew.

The stagecraft students assisted the play by crafting, painting and setting up the scene decor. Although in the background and out of sight, their hardworking effort helped make the play possible.

The students who take part in the stagecraft crew are seniors Josh Bowers, Maggie Hammond and Gracious McMains, juniors Maya Cantwell, Kylie Fisher and McKenna Travis and sophomores Amy Blevins, Carlee Norton and Jack Reynolds.

The lights and sound were handled by senior Riley Head, and the props and costumes were handled by sophomore Kaylee Davis.

The student director, sophomore Damion Dedmon, aided the students to achieve their goal of performing on stage.

“I helped the students memorize lines and choreography under my direction,” Dedmon stated.

Dedmon became the student director by signing up and being chosen by Drama Advisor, Paula McConnell.

McConnell runs the entirety of the drama program as well as the multimedia class.

“The advanced drama kids last school year saw this particular script and immediately thought it was the one,” McConnell explained. “We thought the characters fit the personalities of the advanced drama students returning for the 2021-22 school year.”

McConnell does not believe in pre-casted plays, and so she gave the students the script before school started, and on Aug. 12–the first day of school–they were given their audition scenes to memorize before the Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 casting days.

Emma Samples, who played the lead Jan Wilson, expressed her experiences with practicing for this play.

“It means a lot to me that I got the lead,” Samples conveyed. “I practiced a lot for the audition beforehand, and I really think this experience will help me in the future.”

Samples shared her experience on stage during the performance.

“At first, I was really nervous, but as it got closer to performance time, I got more comfortable with my character.” Samples expressed, “Some of the other advanced drama kids had been watching during class, so performing in front of a bigger audience definitely made me nervous at the beginning, but as the play went on I got used to it.”

With their first performance behind them, the Marlow Outlaw Speech Team (MOST) will now focus on contests and use what they learned from the play to improve their future performances.