Senior year is synonymous with pranks, proms, graduations, and
other rituals that remind 12th graders and their parents that the
end of their high school years is near. Until recently, one senior
event that didn’t get much publicity at Gilroy High School
– for good reason – was the senior play: it didn’t exist.
Senior year is synonymous with pranks, proms, graduations, and other rituals that remind 12th graders and their parents that the end of their high school years is near. Until recently, one senior event that didn’t get much publicity at Gilroy High School – for good reason – was the senior play: it didn’t exist. What had once been a vibrant tradition that packed audiences with GHS theatre alumni in remembrance of a great time in their lives, had somehow disappeared from the scene. It turns out that the senior play was not defunct but merely in hibernation – a long hibernation, it’s true, but still only a temporary phase. Ethan Stocks, head of the Gilroy High School Drama Department, returned to his alma mater last year, recruited Dennis Beasley, another GHS graduate, and the senior play was reborn.
What the senior play represents is a last chance to meet people in your class you never met before, hang around with Stocks and Beasley and, for many in the cast, try something different. Although many cast members have been involved in theatrics in the past, some have never been in a play before. This gives them a chance to delve into the art of acting before they walk out of the big black GHS gates into the big, wide world. In fact, mostly everyone in the cast has something to learn.
Yes, I too am involved in this production. Although I have been in plays, this production calls upon skills of mine that I only use in the shower and sometimes in an empty house: singing. Whether it is singing Bon Jovi or Fall Out Boy, getting caught has been nothing short of embarrassing. Yet, I now find myself in the position of getting up on stage and singing my heart out, though they don’t let me sing Bon Jovi.
This year’s production is The Pajama Game, which is also currently performing on Broadway. Apparently, we will be in a pretty heated competition for ticket sales. The play takes place in a 1950’s pajama factory called Sleep Tite Pajamas. The main characters, Sid and Babe, fall in love despite being on opposite sides of a bitter union wage war for a seven-and-a-half-cent raise. Their love is all but torn apart by the union conflict, but they are reunited at the end. Wow – it’s like they took this right out of my life.
The play does have some universal themes. These include love, wage disputes, and, of course, pajamas. Don’t kid yourself, pajamas can be a theme. We all have memories of a favorite pair of pajamas, favorite books that were read to us when we wore those favorite pajamas, and more. In addition, with some stretch of the imagination, the two lovers caught in the crossfire between two opposing groups, do remind us of the forbidden love stories in Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. Despite that, the play is in no way a tragedy and keeps the audience entertained with soft love songs, upbeat union rallies and a happy ending.
The senior play, for those involved, is tantamount in importance to any of the other senior milestones. Produced by Odyssey Theatre of Gilroy High School, the Pajama Game is the second senior play under the tutelage of Stocks and Beasley.
I encourage all those fans of American musical theater, or any who simply enjoys a good show, to come see the senior play The Pajama Game on March 16, 17, 23, 24, and March 25 at 8 p.m. at the GHS theater and on March 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 dollars at the door; pajamas optional.
