A Conversation that Needs to be Had: darklight

Sadness. Hopelessness. Irritability. Anger. Hostility. Angst. Doubt. darklight by Lindsay Price examines the important and relevant issues of depression and anxiety in teens. Characters fight their inner thoughts, search for their truths, and have surreal conversations with death. Some fail, some find hope.

This is a relevant and necessary issue to explore.

Rachelle Kinn and the skilled student performers of the Century High School Theatre Department in Bismarck, ND challenged themselves and their audience as they shared the important messages in the play:

darklight is a great play about a topic no one want to talk about. It was a challenging and rewarding play to direct. Rehearsals were not always fun, but the students tackled a subject they could relate to. The topic is heavy, but it resonated with everyone in our audience. We performed darklight for the state play contest, and we took first place!

TIPS: It is important to have fun during rehearsal. Since the topic is serious and takes a toll on emotions, students need to laugh. We tried to start or end with a game or dance to break up the seriousness of the message.

The lines can be delivered many different ways, so we worked hard to have each vignette portray the emotions a little differently since everyone copes with anxiety and depression differently.

We reminded ourselves every rehearsal what our purpose was with the production–that there is hope even in the darkest of times.

Congratulations, Century High School!