With the new year comes a haunting, new one act play by the Ocean Lakes Theatre Company titled, “The Demon” and its horrifying tale of devils, a locked in murder mystery and a traitor in the midst.
The original play was written by Martin Downing, with the theatre company giving a thrilling adaptation. The play will go on to be performed in competition on Feb. 2 at Salem High School.
The play consists of seven cast members and 23 crew members who work with the lights, sound, costume and set production. This team of techies and thespians is headed by directors Claude Blanchard, the Ocean Lakes theatre teacher, and Geri-Lynn Ewald, a choreographer and costume designer.
This one night performance on Jan. 22 had students and parents filling the auditorium, waiting for the opening scene. Before the curtain call, the backstage crew assembled the set in record time, with the student directors junior Ava Kruciak and senior Ami Badiye leading the force. They set the stage in under five minutes, proving their preparedness for the upcoming contest.
“A student director is a liaison between the directors and everyone else,” Ami said. “We provide the students’ perspective to the director and help everyone put the play together.”
The play itself holds a darker theme with intense lighting and sound effects, as the story follows six friends who receive an eerie warning from Dr. Lucia Ciprian played by Avianna Uhrin, their mysterious downstairs neighbor who is versed in spirits and dark magic. The group soon finds themselves with a demon amongst them, as over time the friends turn on each other in a thrilling and climatic production.
“It was easy to get into the story and get invested really quickly,” sophomore Kaii Bishop said.
Despite past performances, a horror/thriller was chosen as this year’s one act play to bring something new to the stage. Throughout the show the audience roared in fearful excitement with the lighting in the background and the screams coming from the actors. The intricate makeup was done by junior Anna Lewis and her team of cosmetologists, adding the effect of blood and scratch marks.
“We chose horror for variety,” Blanchard said. “We wanted to do a thriller since “Little Women” was a historical drama and when we decided on “The Phantom of the Opera” for our musical, we thought it would be really fun to do a one act that was a scary one.”
The new format and theme for the play was also a draw to students in auditions. It added a twist to this year’s productions.
“I wanted to be in this play because this was a very different concept from everything else we’ve done in the past,” senior Eleanor Strader, who plays Emma, said.
