https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/To-be-or-not-to-be-13672998.php
USA students help revive drama club
Mike GallagherTribune Staff Writer
Updated 9:27 am EST, Friday, March 8, 2019
Unionville-Sebewaing Area students, Sierra Manial, left, and Alayna Wanless are shown here during play rehearsal. Manial and Wanless have helped bring back the drama program at USA, after the district was left without a director. (Courtesy Photo) less
Unionville-Sebewaing Area students, Sierra Manial, left, and Alayna Wanless are shown here during play rehearsal. Manial and Wanless have helped bring back the drama program at USA, after the district was left ... more
SEBEWAING - For Unionville-Sebewaing Area students Alayna Wanless and Sierra Manial, the stage is a place that feels like home.
When the district's former drama director, Angie Noah, left for a new job in 2017, they knew they had to do something.
"We were all really close with our director," Wanless, a junior at USA, said. "We had been involved since the beginning of the program, so it was pretty sad for us to see it go because we worked really hard to build things up."
After not having the program for the last school year, Wanless and Manial had an idea.
"Last year, the school tried to find someone to replace it, but no one came forward, so they were unable to fill the position," Manial, a senior at USA said. "At the beginning of this year, we decided to maybe start it up by ourselves."
The first step was reaching out to USA High School Principal Josh Hahn.
"Right away, we had to go and talk to our principal and ask him about it," Wanless said. "We didn't even know if he would be OK with two students leading it. He was actually very supportive of the idea, he said we just had to find adult chaperones to be with us for rehearsals, and he would help us out in whatever way he could."
Wanless' father, Mike Wanless, and USA teacher Sherri Holland agreed to help guide the duo.
"They have an adult advisor that they work through, but I would say that their ideas and coordination and planning all come from the two of them," Hahn said. "Both of them are very driven, always looking to make things better, great young ladies and great role models to other students here. They do a great job with their peers, they're the ones that are recruiting kids to join the drama club and they do put together the performances."
Once Wanless and Manial received approval from Hahn to move forward with their endeavor, they started to recruit students for the program.
On their first day, more than 60 students showed up.
"It was honestly crazy at first," Manial said. "We didn't know what to expect. We printed out 20 paper copies for people that we thought were going to be there, and we had to go back to make copies about three times. I think we were all really shocked to see how many people were actually interested."
From there, the two started working for their first play.
"Sometimes it was kind of nerve-wracking," Wanless said. "At first it was really scary because neither of us have theatre degrees or anything. So, we had been talking to our former director and she was giving us feedback and we started using games we had learned when we were in drama club."
"We started just teaching them the basics of projecting, shooting out and everything that we had learned from Angie," Manial added. "I feel like that kind of helped shape them a little bit, and now, we just do regular rehearsals where they have their scripts, they go up on stage and then we'll watch and give them notes."
In December, the drama club hosted its first performance, Skittish for the Holidays, which Manial and Wanless cast, directed and even wrote some of.
"We were really nervous because this is the first time either of us had ever done anything like that," Wanless said. "I guess we never realized how much work goes into it honestly. We had to put in the work and it was a lot, but the kids worked really, really hard and we came out with a great show. The community showed up and there was an amazing audience."
Now, they are preparing for their second performance, The Enchanted Bookshop.
Performances start at 7 p.m. March 15-16 inside the USA auditorium. There will also be a performance at 2 p.m. March 17.
"It's about this woman who owns a book shop and at night, when no one is around, the book characters come to life," Manial said. "So, they have like Dorothy, Tom Sawyer, and Sherlock Holmes and there's a little bit of a conflict that goes on where the book characters try to help their book owners."
The two feel a bit more prepared for their second performance.
"I think we learned a lot," Wanless said. "There was definitely a learning curve, especially at the beginning and we are definitely still learning, but I think that we're better prepared at handling it now."
Now, the USA drama club is a strong as ever, and Wanless and Manial hope that it continues that way.
"It was very important for us to get this moving," Manial said. "It was my senior year and after not having it for a year, I think we just wanted to give that opportunity that we had as underclassmen to other students. We wanted them to be able to meet other students that have the same interests and just make friends."