Saachi Saraf

Drama students pose for a picture outside the Central Hall Studio.

In late July, 13 members of the drama program traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland as one of just 23 high schools selected to participate in American High School Theater’s Festival Fringe. Once there, they performed “ZAP!,” a comedy featuring several smaller plays in a single show. 

Their performance was presented all four times to a full house in the Central Hall Studio on Aug. 2-7. Featuring more than 3,500 shows over the course of three weeks, the Fringe Festival united thousands of passionate artists and performers from across the world. 

The group of students from SHS, which included Class of 2024 alumni Ariana Tootoonchi and Arushi Maheshwar, enjoyed not only performing but also watching other schools’ performances. 

The trip was led by drama teacher Ben Brotzman, who collaborated with a trip planning company, Worldstrides, to create and execute the itinerary. The planning process took over a year and a half long to complete, but the execution was worth it for the team.

“The group’s positivity and energy was influential,” he said. “I was very proud of how everyone took to passing out flyers on the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland, making friends with people from around the world through conversations about theatre and the work they were involved in. This ‘all-in’ attitude about making this trip and our show as successful as it could be is what I am most proud of.”

Sophomore Saachi Saraf, a member of the traveling group, recalled one of her favorite shows, the “Water. Gun. Argument.” show performed by the Greenhill School, a K-12 private school in Addison, Texas. The show was especially entertaining because it involved a take on the classic “senior assassin” game hosted by seniors at the end of the year. The show was humorous and easy to connect with as it was set in a modern high school, she said. 

Experiences like this allowed the young thespians, or actors, to gain exposure to different styles of acting, as well as provide an entrance into a larger community of people who shared similar interests. Many of the productions that were performed at the festival were originals, so connections with other acting groups were ample.

“It was so interesting to see so many different types of productions with a full range of quality. It was about getting the art in front of people. That was truly inspiring for theatre-lovers,” Brotzman said.

On the last day of the festival, the group had the opportunity to step outside their comfort zones when they participated in a group “Scottish dance night,” free to let loose and try something new. 

“We all had to learn how to dance; [it] was really funny watching everyone try their dance moves,” Saraf said. 

One challenge the group faced was the long distances they had to walk between sights. They averaged between 15,000 and 25,000 steps a day, and often ended nights with sore muscles.

However, the benefits outweighed the challenges, as the thespians were able to dive into Scottish culture, while eating good food, and touring centuries-old historic castles and buildings. 

“This was truly a life-altering experience for all of us, and one that puts Saratoga High Drama onto a larger map,” Brotzman said. “I feel like this was an amazing opportunity for these students and our school and I am just so proud of our department for being willing and able to take on a trip like this.”

New leadership steps up 

This year, the drama program has new student leadership, with junior Nila Venkataratnam taking the helm as president. She was previously the program secretary and now actively participates in the program’s communication with the parent boosters and drama teacher Benjamin Brotzman, all while overseeing the budget and mailing list. 

One of Venkataratnam’s major goals for the program is to increase visibility and attendance for smaller productions, including those done by students. One example from last year was “Now and Then,” written by Sean Grennan and directed by Tootoonchi and Maheshwar. She is especially hoping to get more support for this year’s New Works Festival in March. 

“We want to push out advertising for each of our productions earlier so that the information is more widespread,” Venkataratnam said. 

In preparation for the upcoming productions, the program is working to increase communication about audition deadlines and logistics with both students and parents and do more to attract bigger audiences. 

Another of the program’s goals is to increase outreach with the underclassmen. This is especially important as the program starts to include middle and elementary school students in upcoming productions. 

Specifically, the program plans to recruit younger actors for their spring musical “The Little Mermaid.” They hope the family-friendly plot will incentivize middle schoolers to participate and also boost attendance. 

“We landed on the show because it would be a great way to connect with the community,” Venkataratnam said. “We’re including elementary and middle schoolers into our musical, so that we can have a larger cast to get the word about the musical.” 

For their fall play, which will be run on various dates from Nov. 8-16, the club will perform “Radium Girls.” Based on historical events, the production includes an interesting series of court cases to represent factory girls from 1910 to 1930 who passed away while working with radium, a hazardous material used to create glowing watches. Some of these characters, unaware of the radioactivity of radium, applied the radium to their teeth to give themselves a “brighter smile,” and were even instructed to “use their lips to bring the brushes to a fine point.”

One major theme of the production is female empowerment and representation. Venkataratnam highlighted that the main message of “Radium Girls” is key in today’s society. 

“It’s especially important for high schoolers […] to put on this play to show the importance [of empowerment] not only to high school students, but also to younger kids,” she said.

With new leadership and an appealing musical planned for the spring, the drama program hopes that their efforts of engaging younger members and audiences will help them continue expanding their program for the future productions yet to come.

“We have a lot in store for the year — two very different mainstage productions and five four-hour plays along with our Comedy Sportz team and other events — it’s a packed year, but we have a strong team and I’m so excited to see how everything goes!” Venkataratnam said.