Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

Saturday was the final bow for the members of the Plains High School Drama Club for the year, but it was the very last curtsy for the four seniors in the troupe.

Director Terri Henry recognized Plains High School seniors Dawson Brown, Aubrey Tulloch, Hailee Steinebach, and home school senior Anna Hafner after the last performance of "Adam's Eve" in the school's new gymnasium. The seniors and the other four actors - Gregg Tatum, Alexander Horodyski, Mackenzie Tulloch, and home schooler Susannah Lindsay - put on three performances of the two-hour comedy on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

Adam's Eve, a play written by Matthew Carlin, was set in the home of sports writer Adam Moss, played by Brown, who finds a woman in his closet. She tells him she's her soul mate sent to him by God to give mankind another chance to better the world. Moss thinks his friend, Mark Matthews (played by Tatum) was pulling a prank on him. Eve tells Adam she was born that day and is learning to become human. She meets Adam's friend, Mark, his wife, Katie Matthews (played by Hafner), Adam's girlfriend, Marla Madsen (played by Lindsay), and psychiatrist, Dr. Thomas Griffin (played by Horodyski). Instead of revealing that Eve is crazy, they all come to believe her, some more reluctantly. Henry said the drama club had done the same play 11 years ago and because it was a fun play, she wanted to do it again.

Only about 20 people attended Thursday's performance, with a few more on Friday, but just over 70 packed the bleachers on Saturday night. Tickets were $5 apiece with children and senior citizens getting in free, according to Henry, who's been with the school drama club for more than 30 years. Cathy Emmett was the assistant drama coach, and volunteer Ivy Horodyski, helped Emmett with the cast's hair and makeup. All three were presented with roses by the cast at the end of the final performance.

The seniors were presented with flowers by Henry and Emmett. Henry said the entire cast was an amazing group. "The final performance was wonderful. Each time they had a little more fun doing it," said Henry, who made a few special remarks about the seniors. "The growth of all four of these people has been amazing." She said Brown had performed in eight plays since starting as a freshman and portrayed everything from a super hero to a murderer. Brown is the only senior that plans to continue a thespian career on an amateur basis with the Montana State University drama club.

Henry said Tulloch did an assortment of roles that included super hero and a newborn, also participating in numerous plays during her high school career. Tulloch was the only cast member with a sibling alongside side her on stage, Mackenzie Tulloch. The freshman was also the only member in the play to take on two roles, playing Aunt Laurie and Dr. Wagner, the character who gave Adam the news that the X-ray showed he was missing a rib on his left side, which also helped confirm Eve's story that she was sent by God. It helped that Eve disclosed a secret of Dr. Griffin's that he was wearing super hero boxer shorts under his suit, which was revealed by Mark and Katie Matthews. Eve also revealed an affair - and baby - between Griffin and Madsen.

Ed Moreth

SCARED AWAKE – Adam Moss (Dawson Brown) is surprised when awaken by Eve (Aubrey Tulloch) during the school play, "Adam's Eve."

As a home school student, Hafner wasn't able to be in as many plays, but Henry said that she brought a special energy to the stage. And although this was only Steinebach's second play, she was "just so creative on stage," said Henry. Steinebach added a bit more entertainment for the audience during intermission. "Terri made me go out there because the crowd was getting weird the first night," said Steinebach, who played Adam's mother in the play. Steinebach continued doing the intermission amusement on the other two nights, improvising as she went, having dialogue with the audience, and calling a person on stage each night, including her younger brother, Logan, in the final show.

This was only the second time the drama club had utilized the new auditorium and the new portable stage platform on wheels, but for this performance, they had new stage lights, which were managed by freshman RuBea Privett as the club's light and sound technician.