**Marblehead Current intern Benji Boyd is a cast member of “The Life of the Phoenix” and wrote this article about this Friday’s performance.
This Friday, March 1, the Marblehead High School Drama Club will perform the student-written play, “The Life of the Phoenix” (formerly titled “It’s About Pirates and Nothing Else”) before taking the show to the Drama Fest competition this weekend. Co-authors Luke Menslage and Brady Weed have been collaborating with director Thomas Rash to lead rehearsals since late fall.
Friday’s performance will be at the Veterans School Performing Arts Center. Admission is free, but the Friends of the Performing Arts will be collecting donations to help fund the performing arts department at MHS.
The play tells the story of eccentric pirates who, after a beloved crew member is kidnapped, team up with the fearsome Captain Brownbeard to rescue their friends.
As a cast member, I can attest that everyone in the production has worked incredibly hard to bring us to this point. No one in the Drama Club has ever taken part in a student-written show during their time at MHS, and it’s truly a unique experience. Being able to ask the playwrights what a joke means, or how a character should act, or why a certain decision is made is a luxury not afforded to most actors. Senior Luke Menslage and junior Brady Weed started writing the show in spring of 2023 just for fun, and certainly never expected to see their writing acted out on a stage by a cast of their peers.
According to Weed, the two started writing while they were both stuck at home and “delirious with COVID.” The original draft came together over several long phone calls, and has since gone through countless rounds of editing to get it where it is now.
“Directing ‘The Life of the Phoenix’ has been such an incredible experience, but it’s also weird,” Weed said when asked about his experience as a student writer/director.
“Like, why am I discussing philosophies and mortality in this show about silly pirates?” He went on to express his happiness with the dedication of his actors and the ideas each member of the production brings to the table.
“Seeing it all come to life in little ways like that has been incredibly fulfilling.”
One of the most exciting parts of the drama season for actors, crew and directors alike is Drama Fest. Each year, high schools from all around the region compete with 40-minute plays to impress judges and move on to the next round. For those who might miss the Friday night show, MHS is scheduled to perform in the preliminary round at 12:15 on Saturday March 2, at St. John’s Prep. In the past few years, MHS reached the semifinals. We hope that the pirates of the Phoenix will win over this year’s judges as well.
