DRAMA INTHE DRAMA

Looking at the controversy surrounding this year’s play. story by laron van allen-gilbert design by john kowalski

This year’s play “The Grapes of Wrath” is steeped in controversy as the themes relate to the Great Depression. Most students don’t agree with “The Grapes of Wrath” being this year’s play. Many don’t know anything about the plot and themes other than the Great Depression, which makes them view the play as centered around a miserable and boring topic. Yet, once you peel back the cover one gets to understand the real meaning behind “The Grapes of Wrath.”

“A lot of the opinions [...] come from lack of enough information,” fine arts teacher Sarah Halstead said. “When you hear about the time periods of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression immediately go to, gosh, well, that’s so dreary and sad and awful and why are we focusing on that?”

Some students involved with theater asked why this specific play was chosen.

“Anne Murphy has been our play director [...] this was a particular production that she chose for the senior class of actors that she has worked with since they were freshmen,” said Halstead. Many of the actors are seniors this year, and able to tackle more difficult material that’s “not just kind of the light fluff of comedies,” said Halstead. “The themes underlying of the play are all about resiliency and hope.”

She later referenced the COVID lockdowns, many of Fairview’s performing arts programs were on pause and the difficulties of staying indoors, with online learning “[...] after COVID and everything, we can relate to that,” said Halstead.

Despite complaints, some students are interested in the play. “I honestly am personally really excited for this production,” said John Miley (11). “A lot of shows these days are whiny teenagers playing whiny teenagers.”

Many students didn’t know that there was a play, or that the play was “The Grapes of Wrath”, but a few did know the material due to the movie “It’s an interesting plot but I’m not sure how it will translate into a play,” said Luka Kosovic (11). Those who are in the play such as Miley, who plays the character Connie said “I wouldn’t say it was necessarily my first choice,” and “[..]every show has its controversies” but he still was enthustastic overall about the play “I think there are more interesting plays. That being said, this is still an interesting story to tell.”

The director of this year’s play, Anne Murphy, is confident that this royal banner story is a meaningful one for a 2023 audience. “It’s not a sad play, and it’s unfortunate that that’s the perception of it. What’s beautiful about the story is that despite everything they’ve been through, they choose life. They choose to support. They choose to help each other, and they choose to do what’s right for humanity.We’ve all been going through some sort of similar situations in our own lives the last three or four years. How are we going to choose to live our lives? It resonates [...] deeply and beautifully now-- more than it did even 30 years ago,” said Murphy. “I hope students will come see it, because if they don’t really understand or if they misunderstand or if they got a different read on it, come see our story [...]. See if they feel any differently about the piece when they’re done [...] I hope they’ll take a chance and come see it and let us know.”