Drama students at Oilfields High School can add writing credits to their resumes.
The school’s senior drama class wrote the upcoming production of A How Not to Guide to a University Interview. The play examines what happens when outlandish personalities take over during university entrance interviews.
Grade 11 student Warner Hodgins said the drama class thought about common personality archetypes when they were developing characters, and then turned them up to 11.
He plays Greg, a jaded but experienced university interviewer who, along with a co-worker, interviews a number of prospective university students.
Characters include a fitness YouTuber, a SoundCloud rapper, a vegan, a dream candidate and, among others, a theatre major.
“As theatre kids ourselves, we had a lot of fun writing that one,” Hodgins said.
Set at Prestigious University, the play pokes fun at the pressure put on prospective students and recruiters at Ivy League schools, said teacher Pamela Pracic.
“It’s a comedic take on something that these kids are having to deal with in the future,” Pracic said.
Hodgins said each student wrote their own segment and the result is a “really nice sketch collection.”
“I think we succeeded at making a well-written, well-flowing, completely student made play,” he said.
This might be the only time the students see something they wrote come to life on stage, Pracic said.
“I really wanted them to have that opportunity before they graduated high school," she added.
A How Not To Guide to a University Interview will be presented in the theatre at Oilfields High School on May 26 and 27 at 7 p.m.
General admission is $7 and admission for students or seniors is $5.