Pekin High School - Pekinian Yearbook (Pekin, IL)

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DRAMA With make-up and costume on. Ginny Buttram wails in the dressing room for her cue. Opposite Page. With her date due to arrive at any moment. Penny Petrow urges Dana Rush and Ryan Gerkin to move the freshly painted table because it’s “tacky. This time taking the shortcut across the beach was not such a good idea, as the sea weed-covered Terry Bonnette and Penny Petrow found out as a disgusted Rick Taylor looks on. Take a bow ... The play is over, and the cast responds to a curtain call. The island’s best plumber. Scott Lenaway. makes The morning after a “slumber” party can be dif- Dana Rush aware that her cross flanges look a little ficult. Freshmen Dawn Dulley and Penny Petrow weak. slowly crawl out of sleeping bags after a long night. Drama Portfolio 25

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Craziness dominates Onions w . has 100 arms and legs, a sister that looks like an egg yolk, a mother that has a whale spout, and a house that has a man on top of it counting seals? Well, if you don’t know, you missed the spring play. Spring play this year was “Onions in the Stew” written by Betty MacDonald and directed by Mr. Glenn Smith. Something rather unusual happened this year. Of the 25 students in the cast, 18 were underclassmen, including 8 freshmen. The lack of “seasoned” actors led to a few noisy rehearsals, but the newer members of the cast soon quieted down backstage and put together a crowdpleasing show. In the beginning, the set was going to be small because of the success of the contest play which tied up the crew for an extra week. However, the crew decided that the lost week was for a good cause and built one of the largest sets in years. Along with the usual flats and fireplace, the crew constructed a stone back wall and suspended beams. The set successfully gave the effect of the island cottage that Mrs. MacDonald had always dreamed of. The story centered around a family that moved from Seattle, Washington to an island off the coast. The move was a life long dream of the mother, Betty MacDonald, but the rest of the family was not as happy about the move. When the MacDonalds got settled in, their misfortunes began. Every unlikely disaster that could befall a family seemed to happen to the MacDonalds, from leaky pipes to invading yellow jackets. After all of that, the discouraged MacDonalds decide that island life is not for them. The house is put up for sale. A woman, sent by a convalescent home to look at the house as a prospective new location, is the first and only person to look at the house. The MacDonalds try everything to make the woman decide to buy the house. They almost resort to lying when they all realize that the house means more to them than what they thought. The truth is made known about the disaster-ridden home and the woman thanks them for their frankness and promptly leaves with a swarm of yellow jackets not far behind. The story ends with Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald trying to relax after the ship full of sailors that their daughters invited arrives on the beach. 24 Drama Portfolio

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DRAMA After burning Algernon, Charlie pleads with God not to let Algernon’s fate happen to him. To make sure that Charlie Gordon, Ryan Gerkin, is the person for the experiment, some tests arc given to him by a nurse. Lisa Rohe. ‘Algernon’ is 5th in State dramatized by the doctors, portrayed by John Knight and Richard Taylor, who view Charlie the same way they view a laboratory mouse. Another aspect of the play is explored in the relationship between Charlie and his teacher, played by Gina Heussner. When Charlie has the mentality of a five-year-old, the teacher regards him fondly as a happy little boy. However, as he becomes more and more intelligent, the two fall in love. As Charlie begins to regress, he forgets his relationship with her, while she can’t deny her feelings. She finally leaves him because he can no longer understand her feelings of love for him. The play finished ahead of many other flashy, lavishly set plays because of the gut emotional sympathy Gerkin elicited as a man with no control over his life. Thus, Pekin proved that the best play isn’t necessarily the most elaborate one. A few well designed platforms and true emotions are still recognized as good drama. Charlie’s doctors, seniors John Knight and Richard Taylor, read over one of the many progress reports Charlie writes while his tape recorded voice is heard. For the first time since 1977, the contest play went to IHSA State Competition, where it received fifth place. Ryan Gerkin was also honored at State by being named a member of the all-State Cast, an honor comparable to being named a member of an All-State sports team. “Flowers for Algernon,” a one-act play directed by Glenn E. Smith and Larry Truckenmiller, is the story of a retarded man, Charlie Gordon (Gerkin), who becomes brilliant as a result of an operation designed to increase his I.Q. However, the brilliant man recognizes all the cruelties of the world that he had been blissfully ignorant of while retarded. The theme of the play relates to how uncaring man can be for his fellow man, especially if his fellow man is intellectually beneath him. This aspect of the play is 26 Contest Play