A Foxy Farce
Drama department puts on their second production of the year
Senior Hunter Amos (right) lines up a shot as his character Henry Bingham prepares to hit a golf ball blindfolded off of another character’s mouth. “This character was challenging to play because I had to be on stage for much of the show, which meant I had to completely know my lines and keep character nearly every second,” Amos said. “I wanted my character to play the core role that it was written to be. At the end of the rehearsal process, I really had to focus on being more of an anchor for the rest of the cast to play off of.”
December 16, 2019
From December 5th through the 7th, the Millard West Drama department performed the farce play titled The Fox on the Fairway.
Based on the 2010 comedy by Ken Ludwig, the play takes place as the Quail Valley Country Club prepares for the annual golf tournament against their rivals, Crouching Squirrel Country Club. The events of the story unfold after Quail Valley’s manager Henry Bingham, played by senior Hunter Amos, places a bet on the tournament with Crouching Squirrel’s Director Dickie, played by junior Caleb Eschliman.
More issues arise as the newly hired Justin, played by junior Edison Geiler, has romantic problems with the club waitress Louise, played by junior Anna Blumenthal. Matters are further complicated when the character Muriel Bingham, played by senior Ainsley Olson, witnesses her husband getting a little too close to the club vice president Pamela, played by junior Ceibhionn Stevens. All the while, the comedy is sprinkled with plenty of golf jokes and other humor to engage the audience.
“I was hoping that the audience would genuinely find the production funny and that they would leave the show happy no matter what had happened to them earlier in the day,” Blumenthal said. “Before the real performances, we had never had an audience to practice in front of, so it was hard to know what parts would get a laugh. It felt really relieving when we finally got to hear the audience cracking up at all of our jokes.”
In order to ensure the show would be a success, work began in September with auditions, followed by rehearsals after Fall Break. After memorizing their lines, the cast attended the rehearsals for hours every day after school. They focused mainly on blocking and running through the full show until opening night.
“This production differed from others because it had such a small cast,” Geiler said. “We don’t typically put on shows with just six people, especially comedies. This was something really different that I had never got to experience before.”
While the play may follow only six characters, there is still plenty of action. From the slamming doors to the outrageous romantic gestures, the story seems to invoke lots of different emotions from the audience.
“This play is physically a challenge,” Drama Department director Brooke Phillips said. “There are so many quick entrances, exits, physical humor and stage kissing that it gets a little intense. It is also always tricky to try to get students to stage kiss believably.”
The show lasted a total of two hours, including a 10 minute intermission. Although this seems fairly long, the audience was kept on the edge of their seats the entire time.
“This was the first Millard West Drama production that I had been to,” junior Sarah Quinn said. “I was not expecting a play about golfing at a country club to be so eventful, but it definitely was. I think the constant chaos of the story was what made it so funny. I really enjoyed and felt like I understood the unique personalities of each character.”
All three of the performance nights gave the drama department several opportunities to showcase their hard work to the public.
