Drama students "illuminate" student body with play performance

Campion Academy’s brand new drama class, titled Illuminated, gave its first performance of the year during chapel on Wednesday, September 16. The class wrote and constructed every aspect of the play themselves, which was about trusting God, even amidst rough circumstances. 

2020 has been a year of many disasters and disappointments, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Illuminated wanted to convey the message that through it all, God is with us and will always listen to us.

“I think the most important message we wanted to get across was to always communicate with God no matter what,” explained Sami Hodges, lead actress in the play. “I wanted the audience to understand that even though there are so many distractions, if they are able to keep connected with God, whether it’s through prayer or a spiritual conversation with a friend, it will make it much easier to navigate through life knowing He is always by our side.”

The drama students physically represented emotional struggles in the play with black boxes labeled with words such as fear and anxiety. At the climax of the play, Jesus, as portrayed by Francisco Cortez Echeverria, knocked away all of the black boxes piled around the main actress. 

“The most important aspect of the play to me was the symbolism,” commented Daniel Garcia-Mencia, junior. “With the struggles that teenagers and adults alike may be going through, especially with all the chaos that is around us, we just have to trust in God and know He’ll be there to guide us through it all.”

Illuminated’s next performance will be in November and will be live-streamed on Campion’s Facebook page. The class is being taught by Erin Johnson this year which has been reinstated at Campion after a five-year hiatus.

Jayce Treat, Student News Team
Photos by Bentlee Barry