Although the Sage Hill community could not experience the usual excitement of entering the Black Box Theater to witness another spectacular performance from Sage Hill Theater, the annual winter play continued virtually. Interestingly, this school year’s winter play took on the form of a radio play called “Inherit the Wind”. 

For a quick background on the play, “Inherit the Wind” is a fiction radio play which depicts the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial. The play takes place in a small town called Hillsboro, Tennessee. In the play, a schoolteacher is convicted of teaching his students Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution which was illegal at the time. This eventually sets the stage for a court trial where two lawyers, Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond, are pitted against each other. The play is thought-provoking and intriguing as it explores the moral beliefs of the town’s civilians at the time and also a clash between their different philosophies. 

Much like most of the arts department’s performances this year, there were multiple challenges with the virtual format. However, with the help of student sound designers and marvelous teachers, Sage Hill Theater was able to overcome the barriers of recording in dual modalities. In addition, Mr. Louis Marlin, an attorney and a Sage Hill alumni parent, met with the cast to give thematic inspirations to the students and staff involved in the play. 

“Although it was on a virtual format, Ms. Kildare was able to bring everyone together as a community regardless of which format of learning each person was on,” junior Patrick Nguyen said. 

Being part of Sage Hill Theater is not only about learning how to act, but also learning from fellow peers and their perspectives as well. Even though students in the distance learning modality were not able to interact with in-person students as much, all students were able to connect with each other and share their own distinct perspectives and thematic decisions. 

“As a student who was not entirely familiar with theater and acting, I recommend joining Sage productions because you will get so much more than a learning experience,” Nguyen said.