With the astounding success of The Internet is So Distrac- OH LOOK A KITTEN!, Everyone is hyped to learn what is coming up next for the DCHS Drama Club. Some people suspect a musical, others suspect another comedy play. The Drama Club has put on amazing performances with each play that they have produced, so what will the Drama Club surprise us with next??
Well, here’s what: a student directed production. The past plays were all directed by Mrs. Reachel and Mrs. Hilary. However, this upcoming spring production will be directed by a student. The play has been picked out by that student, the cast and crew will be picked by that student, as well as the setup, props, costumes, music, sound effects, etc. And that director is me. Mrs. Reachel asked me to pick out the play and direct it, and I chose Salem’s Daughter after asking others’ opinions and what play should be done.

The play is titled Salem’s Daughter. Salem’s Daughter was written by Craig Sodrano in 1997 and is distributed by Pioneer Drama Service Inc. And this time, the play is not a comedy or a musical: it’s a drama. In theatrical terms, a “drama” is a type of play genre that deals with more serious issues, with little to no comedy. Back in 2018, the Drama Club produced a play called Radium Girls, which was titled as a drama. Radium Girls was by far one of the most successful plays, with the largest audience that had been seen by the actors. Radium Girls dealt with the historical incident in which many women in a factory ingested radium and blamed their company for telling them to use their lips to point their paint brushes, which contained high levels of radium. Another play was produced in 2019 entitled Murders in the Heir, which was a murder mystery play where the audience could vote for who they thought was the murderer, and whoever got the most votes would be the killer that night. The play was a success, with the fan favorite character Rufus (played by Hayden Walker) winning the killer two nights in a row. This play is classified as both a comedy and a drama. Then other plays such as Wizard of Oz, Exposed!, and The Internet is So Distra- OH LOOK A KITTEN! were produced, which were all lighthearted plays with jokes everywhere. 

However, Salem’s Daughter deals with much more serious issues. For example, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The witch trials consisted of many women being on trial for the accusations of being a witch. This all started when girls made the erratic claim that they were possessed by the devil, and they started accusing other women of being a witch. As a result of the panic that ensued, a courthouse was erected in the town of Salem. The first woman to be tried and accused was Bridget Bishop, who was found guilty of witchcraft and hung. 150 people followed, including men and children. One of the most famous cases of this was when two very young girls, not even thirteen years old, were accused of bewitchment after acting out. For example, they would scream uncontrollably and contort their body into unnatural positions. Other girls such as Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren exhibited these same actions, and were accused of being witches. 

This is the historical context concerning Salem’s Daughter, onto the summary. Salem’s Daughter starts out with a woman named Sarah being hung for being a witch. Then the next scene depicts a group of friends, who are graduating seniors in high school, decide to throw a party to make memories one last time before graduation. During this, Heather (the main girl) decides to invite the new girl, Sarah Brooks. Heather thinks Sarah is a weirdo and believes that Sarah is everything wrong with the town. So Heather invites Sarah as a joke. When Sarah shows up, Heather forces Sarah to drink something called an “initiation punch”. Sarah drinks the punch, and Sarah keels over dead. The girls decide not to call the police, and they dump Sarah’s body into the old well behind Sarah’s house. Eight years later, the girls come back. While remembering the events of that night, a detective comes to the house and tells Heather that there were sightings of a ghostly woman in a long skirt walking around Heather’s property, which was the old site of the Salem witches being hanged. 

The production days are March 31st, April 1st, and April 2nd of 2022, during the spring.

Auditions will be held on (possibly) on December 7th and 8th after school. The play requires many female roles with only three males, so sorry dudes. 

I’m extremely excited to be directing this play as a student, and I hope that many people come out and audition.