On November 17, 18, and 19, classroom MCR will be transformed into a theatre as students take the stage to perform monologues, scenes, and one-act plays in the Nanakuli High and Intermediate School Performing Arts Center’s production of “Dramatic Shorts”.

“Dramatic Shorts” is a collection of monologues, scenes, and one-act plays, that touch upon many topics such as coming of age, suicide, and even some comedy.

“The selection of material was based upon the ability of the students as well as topics that they could relate to, but several selections were selected because I knew it would challenge specific students in their acting ability, and I wanted to raise the bar for them,” said Director Robin Kitsu.

Although the show is ready to go, students have worked hard and have faced challenges along the way.

“For me, one of the challenges was characterization because I can get the lines down, but understanding a different person and trying to understand how they think, what they do, how they act, how they move, how they walk, you have to get all that stuff down. That was the hardest thing for me,” said Freshman Faithmarie Rosario.

“I think the biggest challenge for many of the students was just being able to memorize their lines correctly. Once they got their lines down it became much easier to work on characterization,” said Kitsu.

For many in the 32 member cast, Dramatic Shorts will be their first performance of a dramatic script. For the rest, it will be an opportunity for them to showcase their growth as actors.

“Personally, I’m bad at memorizing spoken word because I can do like songs and dances because it’s to music, but it’s hard to just memorize words all alone because you need to imagine like there’s music in your head,” said Junior Aurora Slover.

According to Kitsu, the decision to hold the show in room MCR rather than the Multi-Purpose Cafe was based on the intimacy the small venue gives to both the actors and audience. Permanent stage lighting was also installed in MCR to help with the staging of the production.

“We found in the past that many nuances of the script and the acting were lost because the multi-purpose cafe is so large as well as the challenges of external noise and distractions. Holding the show in room MCR will give the audience up an up close and personal experience with the cast.”

“People should come to see Dramatic Shorts because it will change their lives. It will make them see the world differently because the scenes are about things they can relate to or maybe they didn’t see it the way a certain character sees it,” said Freshman Kylie Butler.

To buy tickets to see Dramatic Shorts visit www.nhispac.com or see any NPAC student.