Norris School District, Drama

By Cynthia Mercati

A look back at the horrors and atrocities that the people of Europe experienced during the Nazi Regime.

    This year's show was great.  As one of the judges put it at districts, "This is the most focused cast I have ever seen."  The maturity and level of focus that the cast displayed during the run of this show makes this one of the greatest to ever grace a Norris stage, or any stage for that matter.  The cast was ready for their five weeks of hard work and dedication pay off in the form of a trip to the State One Act competition at Kearney, but the dice happened to roll the wrong way.  Waverly won our district in ranking and took the trip to Kearney, leaving us to wonder whether or not our efforts had paid off.  Our efforts did pay off.  Although we had our run of the play cut short, we accomplished something greater than any award: we touched people.  This play was written to show the harsh reality of what people in Europe had to go through during the Nazi Regime, and we accomplished the task of showing people this.  Our performance left women with tears running down their cheeks and grown men with tears in their eyes and at a loss for words.  Creating such a wonderful sense of emotion on stage, and then sharing that for others to see is what theatre is all about, not awards.   Every member of this cast should feel the sense of pride that comes with knowing that we accomplished one of the most difficult tasks any actor could do.  Congratulations cast and crew of "The Strength of Our Spirit," you earned every one of those tears in the audience's eyes.

                                                                                                                                    ~Brandon Andersen