This year’s play production, “One Stoplight Town,” directed by Miriam Salamah, was a captivating production with many different storylines over several years, centered around a small town with a new stoplight. The play was filled with fun characters, plenty of humor and the theme that change always arrives, whether one is ready or not.
Though many productions often follow the storyline of just one or two main characters, this play followed several different stories: Clarence and Melvin, who sit outside Bob’s grocery store and comment on the passing people, Trish, who installs the stoplight, Jim and Sally, who are newlyweds and several other storylines.
Miriam Salamah, the director of “One Stoplight Town,” described that she loved this play because there were no “lead roles.”
She added,“[t]he show wasn’t about any one person or persons in particular, it was always about the community and the changes that help shape it. I wanted to pick something that my students could feel they were a part of from the beginning to the very end, and I feel like we accomplished just that!”
Furthermore, Aidan Trier, a current junior at North Polk High School, described how he will continue to participate in the play and encourages his peers to do the same. He enjoyed acting with his friends and believed that the play’s theme was important for the North Polk community.
“I feel the message of the play was a good one. It talks about a small town receiving its first stoplight and all the stories that arise from it. Polk City got its first stoplight a few years ago and I believe there were people that shared some of the same beliefs as the characters in the play.”
Similarly, Lucas Bakken, a senior at North Polk, described how he loved performing with his friends and plans to keep acting.
Bakken described, “I’d like to continue acting in college and community theatre for the rest of my life, it’s one of my favourite hobbies.”
Salamah believes that providing students with the resources and environment to succeed in acting and producing is important, and that participating in theatre has the potential to shape one’s high school experience. She believes that North Polk students are dedicated to their practice, and that by providing creative liberty to allow the actors to make their characters their own, the students made the play humorous while conveying an important message.
Salamah concluded, “[t]he thing about the theatre community is that it has and always will be a safe space where you can express yourself freely with zero judgement. Creating community is very important to me and I wanted to create that here with the students because when you are able to color outside the lines, or take the blinders off, you open up so many more opportunities for creative freedom.”
