This year’s play looked a lot different from the previous ones. Instead of a cheerful story about the holidays, director Brooke Perez chose for her students to take on a more serious story.

     As always, Perez enlisted the help of two seniors, Kyleigh Baxter and Joe Campbell.

     “[Being a student director is] like trying to light a fire with sticks and then realizing they are wet, so you have to wait for them to dry. So super stressful and seems almost impossible at times to get anything done. There are also moments when everything comes together and I feel so much pride in what we have accomplished and there are moments when something goes wrong and you feel like it is your fault. I worry all the time that I have not prepared everyone enough but I know I have done everything I could,” said Baxter.

     With the main part of the play not being held in America, students had to learn how to do Polish and German accents.

     “I just spent time listening to a Polish accent. For some reason, I tend to be able to pick up on accents quickly,” expressed Maddie Preske (10).

     Getting into character, especially when playing a character based on a real person, can be very difficult. But, by doing so you can find yourself in the character.

     “What helps me get into character is just to think about the story, to really put myself in her shoes, to feel her emotions, and through that, I found that like Sala, I can relate to that feeling of no one listening and no one is there,” Preske said.