The Places You'll Go
at Port Colborne High School

Reviewed on April 27, 2023

Arielle Longo
AN Myer Secondary School
Submitted for publication to St. Catharines Standard

How do you make a classic children's storybook by Dr. Seuss relatable for an audience of highschoolers? Luckily, Port High has the answer!

The Port High Dramatic Society presented their take on "The Places You'll Go," a vignette originally play written by Amy Converset and the Senior Drama Class. That's right, these creative drama students took the play and adapted it to fit their current day high school experience.

The play took on a broad range of heavy topics, including racism, bullying, peer pressure, and sexism. It tackled these topics in a charming, playful way that brought a heartfelt chuckle out of the audience, while reminding them that life as a teen can be difficult.

Scene Four, entitled "The Waiting Place," was written by Kylan Szabo, and stood out for its juxtaposition of dialogue. The two monologues, sometimes alternating and sometimes spoken at once, created a strong impact, and added depth to the conflict between the characters. The actors in this scene, Eva Wachel and Kylan Szabo, were splendid, their lines paced and delivered perfectly.

Scene Two, entitled "Super Self-Improvement," addressed the toxic culture surrounding wellness influencing in the age of social media trends all about dieting, micro-fashion, and waking up at 5 a.m. to be the most productive person alive. Makenna Marsh was full of charisma playing the protagonist who finds herself with a lipstick-smeared face, platinum blonde wig, fitness coach, and a persistent desire to increase her popularity.

Throughout the total of seven different short stories, we met a ton of quirky characters, notably a young girl with an obsession with the movie "Tangled," a bunch of hockey fans, and three comical narrators in Cat in the Hat-esque costumes. What ensued was just plain fun for the audience and cast members alike!

A simple yet interactive set design, built around a series of red and white steps that mimicked Dr. Seuss' iconic hat, allowed for characters to shine, lighting cues are well done, and despite not having any microphones, the students were well able to project their voices to the back of the theatre.

As some actors recurred through multiple vignettes and the narrators tied the piece together with their reappearing rhymes, it was clear to see the chemistry amongst the cast. At the curtain, the audience filled the room with applause. Port High's "The Places You'll Go!" is a play that feels homey, like witnessing a large and loving family put on a show, right in their living room.

Lexy George
AN Myer Secondary School
Submitted for publication to St. Catharines Standard

Port High's "The Places You'll Go!" brought a Seussian flair to this short but sweet performance that touched on many social issues affecting high school students.

This vignette piece featured seven scenes, two of which were written by students, each tackling its own complex issue, from racism to peer pressure to gender stereotypes. Every scene brought something new to the play, giving the overall performance the highs and lows that make up the teenage experience. Tying each of these vignettes together were the three narrators, who used parts of the book by Dr. Seuss to create smooth transitions and refer back to the overarching theme of the play.

The delivery was very well-timed and the cast clearly communicated the subject of each scene from the very beginning, giving the audience a deeper understanding of what was going on. The play was easy follow, despite all seven scenes having completely separate plots. The student-run lighting contributed to the flow of the piece by helping guide the focus of the viewer in an effective manner from scene to scene.

The costumes for this play were very well thought-out, from the childish Rapunzel-loving sister to the tough hockey brothers. The costumes were particularly noticeable in scene 3, which was about peer-pressure, in which the teens peer-pressuring the main character to do drugs were in all black and the boy being pressured was in a lighter, more colourful costume. The juxtaposition of the light colours and black helped deepen the stark contrast between the characters and highlighted their moral differences and perspectives towards being "lost."

The fourth scene, entitled "The Waiting Place," was an original piece by Kylan Szabo, featuring Szabo and his scene partner, Eva Wachel, giving two powerful monologues about love and loss at the same time. Because the stage was not huge, Wachel performed from the audience; this demonstrated excellent use of the entire space and gave her character a stronger personal connection to the audience, and making Szabo feel more distant, as he is intended to be speaking from "The Waiting Place" beyond life.

Makenna Marsh wrote the fifth scene, which was a musical number about the relationship between an older and younger sister who share a love of the Disney film "Tangled." This scene was extremely relatable to anyone with a sibling and who knows all too well the joys and struggles they cause. This scene was especially uplifting, providing much-needed balance to the darker themes included in this play.

In conclusion, "The Places You'll Go" was a wonderful piece with a lot of potential that highlighted Port High's talented actors and writers.

Riley Campbell
Governor Simcoe Secondary School
Submitted for publication to St. Catharines Standard

Port High Goes Far in "The Places You'll Go!"

Dr. Seuss is familiar to all, yet students can still spin his style to make theatre fun and unique. Looking for theatre to make you laugh, think, or cry? Look no further than "The Places You'll Go!" at Port High.

Originally written by former Port High teacher Amy Converset and the Senior Drama Class, "The Places You'll Go" is a play geared towards younger teenagers weaving their way through the new challenges of their lives. Just as Dr. Seuss leads his readers through the ups and downs of childhood, the play makes use of Dr. Seuss's signature speech to lead teenagers through the awaiting rollercoaster of life.

On a small stage with very little set design, the cast made up for a lack of fancy bells and whistles with good use of levels onstage and spacing throughout the performance. The energy onstage ranged from fun and amusing to thought-provoking in moments where heavier topics such as racism and peer pressure concerning drug use were discussed.

The director, Amanda Leonard, made the unique decision to allow two students the opportunity to write two new scenes for the play.

Scene 4, "The Waiting Place," was written by Kylan Szabo, who also starred in the piece alongside the talented Eva Wachel. The scene's concept was original and the execution was incredibly well-timed as the two actors spoke at the same time but both could be heard clearly and the way their dialogue intertwined was seamless and poetic.

Makenna Marsh also rewrote a scene, this one a fun piece titled "Zombie Life." The scene showcased a song and dance number set to "When Will My Life Begin," choreographed by Amanda Hardy. The sibling dynamic portrayed in the scene put the cast's strong chemistry on full display.

The three narrators, dressed in classic Seussian fashion, spoke in tongue-twisting rhymes. The classic speeches and familiar faces between vignettes tied the piece together and moved the play along at a very quick pace.

In the tech booth, Adrien Bell, Aryonna Forney, and Colin Vander Veen hit the majority of the lighting and sound cues required for this performance. Lighting cues were especially well-designed in Scene 3, titled "Lost," which showcased a devil-versus-angel-on-the-shoulder conversation with quick, alternating spotlights.

Modern-day issues in society were tied into the familiar Dr. Seuss style, and were enhanced by the addition of the student-written scenes. With their home-spun melange of a childhood classic and the realities faced by modern teengaers, Port High showed that there is no limit to the places they'll go.