As the year comes to an end, the MHS Play Production (Play Pro) put on their final play as the seniors said goodbye. For their final play of the year, Play Pro put together their own spin on Scooby Doo, renaming it as Sammy Roo.
“Due to a lot of inside jokes and funny moments relating to Scooby Doo, we ultimately decided to do an original Scooby Doo parody,” Advisor Ariana Messana mentioned. From this, Messana wrote the play and began to put it into the works.
“To put the play together, it roughly took around two months,” Messana mentioned. Through games and exercises, Messana helped her students prepare for the play to build chemistry and memorize lines.
“The senioritis definitely kicked in the last bit of the year for sure, but I’m proud that it actually came in together in the end,” Messana said. Additionally, many seniors took this last play emotionally as it was their last experience with Play Pro. “I’m going to miss Play Pro because Play Pro is another family of mine. I would say because there are a lot of people that you’ll meet that feel like brothers or sisters or like cousins,” senior James Song mentioned.
The final play consisted of the main characters’ adventures through a series of obstacles. The play started with three actors putting on their version of the Scooby Doo theme song. The next scene was followed by the four main characters arriving in a cardboard recreation of the Scooby Doo “Mystery Van.” From this, the gang entered a haunted mansion where they were trapped for the rest of the play. Inside, they ran into shenanigans. The four main characters were eventually split up from each other, and they all interact with the monsters that roam the mansion. The play ended with them all devising a plan to escape as they defeat the villain Vladimir.
Senior Marge Rosas mentioned that playing a villain role was new for him, but it ultimately made sense once he started practicing for the role. Some difficulties that came with the role were being “mean” as his character, Validmir, is a harsher character. “It was very tough because Ms. [Messana] wanted me to be more mean and I’m not very good at being mean”, Rosas mentioned. For others, such as Song, it was much simpler “He sort of just fit my normal personality, so it was easier to embody the character”, Song mentioned.
“I think the thing I am the proudest of in the end is how everyone was able to put the show together, especially because half of our cast is seniors,” Messana added. Additionally, a new aspect of the play was the idea of interaction with the audience. As seen in one of the more chaotic scenes in the play, the actors ran off stage and were able to run down the aisles to interact with the audience. “My favorite aspect of the play, in my opinion, is that we were able to use more of the audience; we were able to walk around through the aisles and get some closeups and such,” Song mentioned.
Behind the scenes of the play, the backstage crew worked hard to put together the best set possible. “I’m proud of the set that was made, as the set was very difficult in some ends but we all pushed through and we made it,” senior Michael Kenny said. It was a challenge for the backstage to work on the time limit, but they are most proud of the final product. Kenny said he could not have done it without the rest of the tech crew.
The audience enjoyed the play thoroughly with laughter spreading throughout the auditorium. Sophomore Ndiaye Oliver mentioned, “I thought it was hilarious and it made me laugh for sure.” Both nights seemed to have the audience impressed, as many left with smiles on their faces.
For many, Play Pro has been a welcoming experience. “It really helped me get out of my shell, and also it helped me figure out what major I wanted to do,” Rosas added. Many of the seniors on the cast will be sad to leave but excited to see the future that is ahead of them with theater. For incoming Play Pro students, Song has a few recommendations: “ Try some stuff out, experiment with tech and experiment with acting, and don’t be afraid to try out some things you’ve never tried out before.”
