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Young cast of ‘Emergency Prom’ gears up for opening

Flashing lights, shimmery streamers and a revolving disco ball set the stage for the upcoming theatrical production of Emergency Prom – a dramatic comedy that takes place at the fictional Glen Burnie High School in Maryland in 1994.

The play, written by Steve Moulds and adapted for Bradley University by Steve Wilson, surrounds a group of disgruntled misfits who hated their high school prom and come together to plan an “emergency prom,” one they feel they can get right this time around.

“This is a time before cell phones and texting and before social media took off,” Scott Kanoff, head of the department of theatre arts, said. “It’s very funny, and it’s very goofy, but the characters are very real. They have a lot of heart.”

Using a high school setting, scenic designer and technical director for the production, assistant professor Chad Lowell said he is tasked with capturing all the feelings associated with teenage years. Lowell did this through set locations and scene transitions, with the goal of reminding the audience members of their own proms.

“There are close to 15 different locations,” Lowell said. “One of the challenges for me as a designer was to be able to move locations but not slow down the pace of the play.”

The themes in “Emergency Prom” hit close to home for many Bradley students who recently graduated high school.

“[The play is] about picking yourself up once things crumble down,” freshman theater performance major Africa Hill said. “That’s what’s really important.”

“Emergency Prom” includes elements of heartbreak and being grateful for the friends you have; it’s also about coming of age, and in many ways, that is reflected in the cast and crew.

“This cast is, for the most part, all [in] the freshmen class,” Lowell said. “This is like last year [for them], so it’s relatable.”

Lowell calls the play a “period piece,” explaining how his own high school prom took place in the same decade.

“It’s a nostalgic piece for me,” Lowell said. “It becomes a very different experience that I look back at as being very real to the different artists involved.”

For many of the cast and crew, this is their first performance at a collegiate level.

“I’ve been acting on one stage my whole life,” Zach Daly, a freshman theatre arts major, said. “So coming from that stage to this one has been a really big change.”

Many freshmen said they feel the same way.

“It’s a new stage, it’s all new faces and a new environment to sink in as an actor,” Hill said.

When asked about the transition to a new theater department, Hill said she had no doubt in her mind she made the right choice to come to Bradley.

“It’s such an open and loving environment that the transition from high school was easy because everyone is so accepting and willing to teach you,” Hill said.

For Daly, that easy transition and environment he found at Bradley enabled him to thrive during production of the play.

“In theater you’re supposed to be very vulnerable to let things happen, and I feel that I can be at that level [of vulnerability],” Daly said.

“Emergency Prom” opened yesterday and has show times at 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are on sale to students for $5 with their student IDs at the theatre box office.

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