The VHS Spotlight Players are proud to announce that they are still holding their annual student-directed One Act Festival – with a twist!

This year, due to COVID-19, rehearsals are taking place through Google Hangouts. The final dress rehearsal will be recorded and submitted into Verona High School’s Virtual Creative Arts Night. There will be five plays put on this year, as usual all are student-directed.  Each of them brings something new and fun to the ensemble of plays.

The line-up includes The Future Is In Your Tiny Hands directed by Colleen Dennis and Maggie Gorman, Just Regular People directed by Emily Osborne, Who’s On Alpha? Directed by Renata Curcio, Nothing to Write About written and directed by Abby Bermeo and Griffin Willner, The Real Mrs. Jones directed by Cailan Compierchio, and Those Left Behind written and directed by Aidan Callari.

Virtual Creative Arts Night is Wednesday, May 27th to Friday, May 29th, and will feature performances from the band and choir, one acts from the Spotlight Players, and naturally, other forms of art. 

In a normal year, all One Act plays would be a part of one large festival, in which the plays, directors, and actors are judged and nominated for various awards. At the end of a regular festival night, winners are announced and some little speeches are made. This year, as the shows will just be put on for fun, they will be watched whenever the audience desires and there will be no awards. However, because of the new way of showing these plays, the fun of the night will be enjoyed by a much bigger audience and on many more nights than one. The recorded Google Meets will be posted for parents, students, and others to view, send, and share. 

While it is unfortunate to not be able to share the stage this year, it is encouraging that these student plays will be enjoyed by a much broader audience and will be remembered as rather historical.