Theater students Molly Stansbury ‘18 and Zoe Rowe ‘18 directed a play that took place on Friday, Dec. 8 and Saturday, Dec. 9 based on an episode of the Twilight Zone titled Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?. The performance followed police officers at a diner investigating which of the occupants could be an alien that was spotted reaching Earth in a UFO a few hours earlier. It took course as a classic mystery in which the characters experienced hysteria, pointing fingers at who they believed could be the Martian.

What made the show unique was that it was not an idea assigned by a teacher; it was a concept completely conceived by the directors. All the decisions were up to them, including what it was exactly that they were to produce.

“We decided to do this for fun,” Rowe said. “Molly and I, we were thinking about directing a murder mystery. We got together and were like ‘hey we both like the Twilight Zone, so it would be super fun to do an episode of the Twilight Zone.’ For the parents, it would be revisiting for them, but for the kids it would be something completely new. It’s fun because a lot of the parents have actually come to me and said, ‘oh I remember watching this when it first ran.’”

Deciding the story wasn’t the only aspect of the show the directors had to determine. They also had to prepare the show from start to finish, which included making choices regarding casting and the script.

“We had to pick a script and cut it down and then we had to do an audition process. There was one round of improv and another round of reading the script with a bunch of people and then we had to cast the show,” Stansbury said. “Then we had rehearsals every single day for about a month and then we had to pick the space we were perform. We had to design the set, we had to design lights and sound. It’s very involved, but it was also a lot of fun.”

The fact that the show was entirely conducted by students also presented certain difficulties for the directors and actors.

“It’s kinda hard at times,” Rowe said. “We did get authority, but it’s weird telling your peers what to do, because with teachers they got the teacher status, but with us, it’s just like ‘oh, we’re just students telling other students what to do.’”

In addition, the students only had a month to complete every step of the production process, so they had to work as hard as they could to put on the best show possible in a limited amount of time.

“We did a lot of rehearsals for like two hours at school everyday and we put a lot of time into memorizing our lines and getting the fine details down,” Analisa Sweeten ‘21, who played the role of Olmstead, said. “It was really a great group bonding activity.”

On the day their performances, their efforts paid off. The audience, including fellow students, friends, and familial members alike, enjoyed the show.

“In what they were saying, they also had feelings and expressions and their timing and reactions were on point every time,” Kelsia Adil ‘19 said. “You could actually feel the sarcasm and the fear and that made for a really great play. I saw how hard the actors and the directors worked to prepare this play and I found it to be really great that people would be willing to work this hard. I’d like people to be more aware that Westwood was making these little productions and actually see them.”

Not only was the play entertaining to the audience members, but the cast and crew were more than satisfied with the final product.

“I think it turned out really well,” Rowe said. “To me, it looks like an adult who went to school for this put it on, but maybe I just telling myself that. I had so much fun, and they’re such nice people to work with. I’m just really proud, every performance has been better and better and they’ve come so far from the start.”