High School Players do good job with The Fourth Wall

by Rich Rosentreter

It was a wall that wasn’t really there. But the High School Players made it real during their performance of The Fourth Wall on November 15 and 16 at the Tupper Lake Middle High School.

The one-act teen adventure comedy revolved around a “wall” between stage performers and the audience. When characters Jason (Jayce Clement), Sarah (Emily Sipler) and Jack (Bryce Davison) break into the wall, a zany mission is set off to find the intruders and bring “justice” for their infraction of interrupting the “scheduled performance.”

The show brought many laughs to the audience who appeared to enjoy the bouts of humor throughout the performance.

It begins when Jason, Sarah and Jack inadvertently wind up inside the wall, and the stage manager (Nolan Savage) becomes focused on capturing the trio.

Throughout the play, the three soldiers (Jessica Mitchell #1, Karen Bujold #2 and Emily Roberts #3) add many doses of humor with each toting prop guns.

The narrator (Meika Nadeau) keeps the crowd informed as to what is happening, but also blends into the act as she transfers from narrator to being a part of the play as a character. She did a very good job with the dual role.

As with any production, the interrupted performance included a lead female (Olivia Ellis) and lead male (Lowden Pratt), each performing a standout act, which included constant bickering as to who was the real “star” of the show – and each wanting the intruders penalized for disturbing their lead roles.

Adding a nice element to the show were Homie #1 (Emileigh Smith) and Homie #2 (Jenna Switzer) who were mysteriously referred to as “The Connections.”

All in all, in The Fourth Wall, directed by George Cordes, the High School Players did a fantastic job keeping the everyone entertained in an off-the-wall, zany comedy that brought plenty of laughs to an appreciative audience.

Out of sight, but playing big roles behind the scenes was the stage crew (Kiana Nadeau, Genna Carmichael and Zachary Smith).