From colorful costumes to witty lines, the play put on by one of the theater classes, The Ant and the Grasshopper, did everything right.
The two main characters were cast perfectly, with senior Tessa Haas as the rambunctious, fun-loving Grasshopper and senior Drew Shafranek as the hard-working Ant who can’t bring himself to say the word “play”. In the show, the Grasshopper finds a cozy leaf to live on near an anthill. As she makes herself at home, Ant comes out of his hill and yells at her for getting in the way of his Queen’s pathway. Grasshopper doesn’t understand why Ant never has time to relax and play, and Ant doesn’t understand why Grasshopper is always having fun and not preparing for winter. Throughout the play, other bugs are introduced, including the subplot duo of optimistic Ladybug (junior Alex Adkins) and hungry Caterpillar/vain Butterfly (freshman Katie Self), evil Spider (senior Kensey Berry), and the ant Queen (senior Maggie Wright).
Soon enough, winter comes and Grasshopper and Ant have to reluctantly work together to survive the season. As time goes on, both learn lessons from each other and discover that there is more to life than just work or just play.
Even though The Ant and the Grasshopper is a children’s play, the cast and crew still pulled it off with professional panache. Every line was loud and clear and the energy level stayed around 120% the entire play. One would expect nothing less from a cast of some of our school’s best actors. Something that I did not expect, though, was how funny this play was going to be. It was hilarious. There were times when I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. Maybe it was the funny voices or the crazy costumes, the silly sounds or the expert timing of the punch lines. Whatever it was, it had the entire audience howling by the end.
All in all, the play was enchanting. The childish plot, the whimsical set, the great acting all made it extremely enjoyable, and I would not be surprised if it does very well at the annual Cappies Awards (the Tony Awards of high school).
