The Chapel Hill High School theater program premiered its second virtual performance, Paper or Plastic, on April 15. The comedy, written by Werner Trieschmann, was produced by Theater Director Thomas Drago and directed by senior Margaret Stoffregen.
Paper or Plastic? focuses on the first day on the job for Puritan Foods employee Sarah (played by sophomore Amelia Brinson) as she navigates confusing instructions, a fed-up manager Carla (played by senior Lucy Marques) and bizarre customers and coworkers.
As the play progresses, the audience watches Sarah become more and more disenchanted with her job to the point where she reconsiders working in a greasy fast-food restaurant. It isn’t until the end of the play that Sarah meets Angus, a potential friend amidst the chaos of Puritan Foods.
Paper or Plastic? differed from the theater program’s fall production, An Evening of Shakespeare, in that the 15 student actors filmed their scenes together on Zoom instead of individually pre-recording scenes and stitching them together later on.
Drago said that, thanks to Zoom, the recording process felt much more like a normal in-person experience since the program was recorded in one take.
“Believe it or not, that was the very first time we had run the show on Zoom, and it was absolutely amazing to see every single scene just get better and better,” Stoffregen said.
Like any in-person play, many thorough rehearsals went into the making of Paper or Plastic? to ensure a great production for the audience.
“We rehearsed one scene at a time three days a week for the first month,” Drago said. “Then we rehearsed three scenes at a time three days a week for two weeks. Then we ran the whole show five times.”
Lou Belser, a senior who played the Cracked Egg Woman, noted that while it was harder to bond with her castmates, the Zoom format made the performance feel more real and lively.
“[A virtual production] was never going to be the same experience as a stage play because there were a lot less cast bondings and special moments between us,” Belser said.
The character Angus was played by freshman Armand Nardi, who said adapting to the changes demanded by a virtual environment presented unique challenges.
For example, Nardi said that the crew had to get creative about interacting with each other to give the illusion of physical exchanges between the characters.
“Doing a play online was something I never thought I’d experience, but nothing can beat doing it on a stage,” Nardi said.
Paper or Plastic? is no longer available on the Hanes Theatre website as its license allowed for only one night of streaming. However, the cast list is still available and can be accessed here.
