The “Junior Spectacular” performances took place in the Birge Auditorium on Friday, January 17 and Saturday, January 18.
The Junior Spectacular has been a tradition at NC since 1957 when it was established to help fund prom.
Starting at the beginning of the school year, juniors write, direct and rehearse original one-act plays. The acts are a spinoff of current events, teachers or NC traditions.
Teachers are selected as judges and award prizes, such as the historic “Tray of Champs,” the trophy presented to the winning act.
The junior class council decides the theme and dates and publicizes the event. This year’s theme was “Specflix,” a spinoff of the streaming platform Netflix.
Three plays were performed: “Tune in Next Time” by Valentine Johnson, “Mean Moms” by Ben Milata and “Lizzie Broden” by Helen Alar.
“Lizzie Broden” told the tale of a ghost haunting a group of fraternity boys and girls. The play takes the audience on a thrilling journey using lighting and sound techniques to build suspense.
“Mean Moms” replicated the 2000 movie “Mean Girls.” Instead of focusing on teenage girls, Milata based the play on the new generation of moms.
Milata claims he’s been working on “Mean Moms” since his first year. The play was creative, incorporating different visuals, sound effects and music.
Maria Beck, a Junior Class Council member, acted in “Mean Moms” while helping the Junior Class Council organize the event.
“Although it may seem difficult, it was surprisingly easy because I could relay information to the junior class council about any spec feedback very well,” Beck said.
Beck played Lindsey Warren, a spinoff of the actor Lindsey Lohan in the original movie.
“The most challenging part about Junior Spectacular was learning all of my lines just because time went by pretty quick,” Beck said.
“Mean Moms” was a musical act, meaning Milata had to script not only lines but also lyrics.
“While the most challenging part about spec was balancing other extracurriculars with it, I was with my friends the entire time, which made it fun,” junior Alyssa Vasquez said.
Vasquez played Susan Smith in Mean Moms, considered one of the play’s leading roles. This role required her to memorize more lines and stage directions than most.
Johnson’s “Tune in Next Time” was a fast-paced play mocking current television and commercials. The act became a judge’s favorite and won the honorary “Tray of Champs.”
“The idea for my story took quite a while. But I started writing in early October, and then I had my final script in January right before we performed it,” Johnson said.
In the past year, Johnson has explored the idea of an acting career. Her involvement in theatre and writing inspired her to pursue this career choice.
“I saw the Junior Spec show my freshman year, and ‘I was like, I need to do this,’” Johnson said. “I wasn’t even into acting when I saw it, but I knew I needed to be on that stage. Plus, it’s an enjoyable and creative thing,” Johnson said.
Acting can be fun, whether students perform professionally or as a hobby with their friends.
“It truly was amazing,” Johnson said. “I had a group of people that didn’t know each other, and by the end of the rehearsals, they were all good friends. We all went to Chili’s together after. It was so fun,” Johnson said.
Junior Spectacular is known to connect the junior class, as the students have to build a play independently and work through conflicts.
“The most difficult part was trying to lead the actors without telling them what to do because I recently started acting last year, and this is my first directing or writing anything,” Johnson said. “I’m kind of nit-picky as a person, so I wanted to make sure it was organized but also make sure it was fun,” Johnson said.
Some students were seen in more than one play. Milata and Johnson were featured not only in their plays but also in each other’s.
“The only difficult thing about being in two acts is I had to spend a lot of time on my act and then quickly switch gears and go rehearse ‘Mean Moms, ’ and even though my spec act was second, I had to stay every day till the ‘Mean Moms’ cast was done with Counterpoints rehearsal,” Johnson said.
The performance is no joke, but it can become a fun and memorable event for the junior class with the right people.
