Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994 TAG: 9404050132
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But it is off the stage that the Pulaski County High School Players have faced some of their greatest challenges.
Readers of this newspaper may remember when a troupe traveled to Garfield High School near Washington, D.C., about 13 months ago to bring back a one-act play award in state competition. On their way home, a wheel on their bus caught fire near Roanoke. Another bus dispatched to pick them up found itself returning to the school during 1993's worst snow and ice storm.
A month later, they took their play to the State International Thespian Conference at Norfolk - and found themselves trying to unload their props and equipment in 60-mph winds. Another snowstorm trapped them and acting groups from some of the other schools in their motel overnight (the Pulaski group ended up performing for the others in the motel's ballroom). It was not until the next day they found out that they had won in the performance competition.
Luckily, their play happened to a comedy about the trials and tribulations of a theater group. They lived the roles offstage as well.
This year, they prepared a particularly difficult play for one-act competition (based on a Franz Kafka tale, no less) - or they tried to prepare it. This was one of those plays where lots of rehearsal time was important. This was also one of those years when foul weather caused schools to close for days at a time.
They brought back awards at all levels for their performance anyway, and took the play once more to the Thespian Conference last month. This time it was at Virginia Beach, and the players felt sure their run of bad luck had ended.
Wrong.
Two hours before their performance, the stage caught fire.
``Ah, that's a good fog effect,'' drama teacher Rhonda Welsh remarked when she opened the door and looked in. It turned out not to be fog at all, but smoke. The teachers got busy evacuating students, dragging them out of various kinds of workshops.
In one case, they almost literally dragged out the students. ``One group was in the middle of a workshop on meditation,'' Welsh recalled. They had been repeating the mantra that everything was fine, everyone should relax, and were concentrating on doing just that.
For the next few days, whenever a fire siren went off, some other teacher would say, ``Hey, Rhonda, sounds like someone has a fog machine down the road.''
For the Pulaski Players, of course, it was just one more glitch in the drama of life. ``We're standing there laughing as the theater is burning. We're saying `It's happening to us again!''' Welsh said. ``It's gotten to the point that what would make other people panic makes us laugh.''
But their Kafka show had been the talk of the conference, and the other groups were determined to see it. The debris was cleaned up and the show went on. Directors from other schools praised it, and the group got a standing ovation.
For years to come, no doubt, the Pulaski Players will be reflecting on all their high school drama experiences - assuming, of course, they do survive to graduate!
by CNB