News
Drama Club to present 'The Unusual Suspects'
Scott Wagar
05/14/2013
Bottineau High School’s Drama Club will be presenting a very unusual play when they bring Samara Siskind’s comedy, “The Unusual Suspects,” to the Holwell Auditorium this Friday and Saturday evening.
“It’s a funny play and the characters kind of fit some of the kids,” said Kari Jostad, the advisor to BHS’s Drama Club and the director of the play. “The kids have really adapted well to their roles and they really get into their character roles, making it a great production.”
“The Unusual Suspects” is about a high school principal who is very harsh to the students in his school. However, that all changes one day when four students, who are totally different from one another, come together and conceived a plan to get back at their principal. With revenge in full force the unusual takes center stage and brings the play and characters alive under the stage lights for theatergoers to enjoy.
The five leads in the play are all seniors who are veterans to the school’s drama club. Alberto Moncera plays Mr. Piddles the principal; Marlyss Jostad is Agatha Hobbes who is the brains behind the student’s plan; Cole Kainz is Lucas Hudson the rebel in the group; Crystal McKay is Faith Davenport, who is known as Princess and always gets what she wants; Jeremy Dissette is Chad Witherspoon, the school’s star athlete and Karley Meyer plays five different characters in the play which includes Mrs. Piddles, Gertrude, Penny, Tuffy and Tiffany.
“I play a lot of different roles,” Meyers said. “And, the different characters are entertaining and there are a lot of ways I can play the roles, which makes it fun.”
For the five seniors who will take the stage for the last time on Saturday evening, they commented that their final performance for the BHS’s Drama Club is going to be a poignant performance for them.
“It’s really sad,” said Dissette, who will be going on to pursue a career in acting when he graduates from Bottineau High School. “I joined when I was a freshman and it has just flown by.”
“I am going to miss it,” said Meyers, who will be going on to study her generals at NDSU this upcoming fall. “Most of these kids have become my second family.”
“It is going to be sad leaving here and stuff,” said Kainz who will also being attending NDSU to study engineering. “But, it is all about the transition.”
Kainz added that he plans to continue acting in college plays and community theater.
The students will not be the only ones feeling emotional this weekend during the production, the director is also going to be struggling with love pains for the seniors who will be going on in their lives.
“I am going to cry,” Jostad said while fighting back tears.
Outside of the five primary characters, 11 other drama students will take the stage with a variety of compelling roles they will be performing.
Prior to the play, the BHS’s Drama Club will be selling roses to the general public to give to the student actors.
“People who come and see the play can buy roses for cast members, which they can sign and wishing them good luck or break-a-leg,” Jostad said. “We will have candy suckers, too, because the candy will play an important part in the play.”
The money raised will be utilized for the drama department to pay for scripts, props, costumes, art supplies and for gas and meals during their competition season.
Jostad stated that “The Unusual Suspects” is a play individuals will want to see, and encourages the community and the residents of the surrounding areas to take in BHS’s spring performance.
“I have a great group of kids who have been absolutely phenomenal,” she said. “It’s just fun to see the kids’ different characters come out and they really get into their parts.
“The Unusual Suspects” will be performed May 17 and 18 at the Holwell Auditorium with the curtain going up a 7 p.m. each evening.
Siskind is a playwright and actor from Florida. Siskind holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in regional Theater from Webster University’s Conservatory of Theater Arts, and has written four full-length plays and a number of children’s productions. She has been nominated for the Carbonell Award and has been published in inPlays.