Dawson Mullins and Kallie Waller

Writers

The Marlow Outlaw Speech Team (MOST) performed their annual Advanced Drama play for students during a matinee held on Thursday, September 29 and an evening performance for community members on Saturday, Oct. 1.  

With the Marlow High School auditorium being recently removed as planned for future building upgrades, the performance was held at the First Baptist Worship Center.   

The play was a comedy that took place in an old western coffee shop known as “The Pony Expresso.” 

The performance made the audience chuckle as a string of puns were cleverly used and mishaps continued to unfold with little luck being solved.

In a coffee shop full of cowboys, the town started to fall ill from a mysterious source.   

They did not know what or who was doing this to their community, but they would soon find out.

The play opens up to the owner of The Pony Expresso, Dee Caff, played by junior Hannah McInvale and her niece Star Bright, portrayed by junior Emma Samples, serving a cup of coffee to Barb Dwyer, played by senior Mckenna Travis. 

The main villain of the show Mo Cabana, played by senior Bryce Duncan, was trying to bring The Pony Expresso down with his companion Fifi Latte, played by senior Anna Nelson.

“I feel a strong connection to Mo Cabana. He’s very big and over the top, and it’s kinda how I am,” stated Duncan. “I’m obviously not a villain though.”

The Mayor of the show played by sophomore Jackson Witt gave Dee Caff a letter pertaining to the Pony Expresso, stating that it will be a train stop.

Mo Cabana, the very mischievous villain who also owned a coffee shop, wanted to take over The Pony Expresso in order to pad his finances a bit more.

In his deceitful ways, he came up with a plan to create panic around the Pony Expresso.

In the plan to wreak chaos, Cabana poisoned all the coffee after forging a letter to gain ownership of the coffee shop.

In a turning point of events, an unraveling statement from Dee Caff was out to the public. 

Dee Caff stated that she did not write that letter, but it was found to have her handwriting.

Soon after the letter was found, Buck, the temporary sheriff and crush of Star Bright, played by senior Jordan-Tyler Brown, drank the coffee and fell over presumably dead.

Panic began to spread at the coffee shop, just as Mo Cabana had planned, but little did he know that his plan was just as quickly about to unravel.   

Buck was soon awakened by Star’s kiss and was brought back to life.

After a long thrill of events, Mo Cabana was arrested by the Sheriff and thus ending the play. 

With all the puns and jokes found throughout the play, it is hard not to have a chuckle or two.

Senior Marlow Latimer watched the play and stated how comedically appealing it was.

“The play made me laugh the entire time, and it was really funny,” expressed Latimer. 

“My favorite part was when Tyler Hertzler, who played the marshall, introduced himself,”

Although the performance was held in a different location, members of Advanced Drama and StageCraft did not skip a beat- the actors still made a marvelous performance.  

“We already had everything we needed from the auditorium, so we just used the stuff we had and it all came together,” expressed sophomore and Stage Craft member Emily Tremble. 

“I felt accomplished when it all came together”

Paula Mconell, the MOST advisor, expressed why she picked the “The Pony Expresso” to be this year’s performance for the MOST students and how the auditorium rebuild affected the play. 

“Knowing that we would be without a stage, that we would have to take the show on the road and not even knowing where we would land, I knew we needed a show that utilized traveling scenery pieces. A melodrama does just that, so it was a given that would be the choice of comedy. The team read several shows and we found this one the punniest. We had never done a 

western before so “The Pony Expresso” fit the bill perfectly,” Mconell stated.

Crazy mishaps and a long road of rehearsals and fun filled after school practices paid off for these students. 

The MOST play was a success at Marlow High School, and they hope to see more faces next year!