Students in the drama department had the opportunity to travel abroad this summer to visit the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The young actors spent two weeks in Scotland and watched many performances as well as produced their own show. 

This August, Drama traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As the largest arts festival in the world, the Fringe offers a variety of outdoor stages and indoor venues showing over 3,000 shows. The group performed a comedic play, “The 39 Steps,” based on the novel by the Scottish writer John Buchan. 

“Fringe is the biggest platform in the world for artists to bring their work, be supported and get it out there,” said drama teacher Jessica Fox, “it’s affordable and accessible and also leads producers to invest in your shows.” 

For each performance, students had two hours to set up, perform and clear out. Although they were competing with over thousands of other shows playing simultaneously, they sold out for each of the four nights they performed.

“The students did amazing work at this professional festival.  We sold out every performance, a rarity for any Fringe show, but even more so for high schoolers competing for ticket sales with the 3,000+ other shows performing at the same time,” said Fox.

Students felt the pressure of being among performers from all over the world, in a tense, professional setting.

“It was very high-stake; there were many performances going on in this professional setting, and all of us were nervous as we only had two hours to get in there, do the show, and get out,” said Hagenlocker. “But it was a great experience to be put into this pressure cooker that is the Fringe.” 

The drama department will present the comedic play during their “One Acts” in October.

“‘The 39 Steps’ is a spoof of an Alfred Hitchcock movie that takes place in Scotland,” said senior Gabrielle Hagenlocker, “we will be performing it in One Acts this year so everyone can enjoy our performance here as well.