Lake Orion High School Thespian Troupe 2898

The actors of Troupe 2898 are now rehearsing for the fall production of “Ashland Falls” by Steven Stack.
Performances are scheduled for Nov. 17-19.
Check The Lake Orion Review, the Lake Orion Thespian Troupe Facebook page and lakeoriontheatre.org for ticket information.
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for more photos.

By Kristi Pavelich
Special Contributor to The Review
ORION TWP. — The Lake Orion High School Thespian Troupe 2898 opened the 2022-23 season with Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” in September at Wildwood Amphitheater.

The outdoor venue hosted four performances of the unique adaptation of the play, presented in modern English. Every position, including the director, stage manager, lighting, props, crew and costumes was entirely run by students.

“I wanted to do a Shakespeare comedy. I knew that from the beginning. This show had characters with multiple lines and monologues, but the size of the cast was flexible which was important as there are many strong LOHS actors graduating and this gave us the opportunity to bring on many young actors. We had 15 incoming freshmen join the show!” student director, senior Elijah Vernagus said.

Senior Austin Pordon assisted Vernagus with directorial duties.

Cast and crew began rehearsals in early July, meeting daily in the outdoor pavilion at Civic Center Park. This unique tradition enables the Thespian Troupe to welcome freshman students before the school year even begins. The new students took advantage of this opportunity, trying out and joining the cast in various roles both on and off stage.

“Being a part of the play before school even started was fun. I got to meet lots of new friends and spend my summer with them,” said David Pavelich, freshman, who played both Duke Fredrick and a deer.
Junior Lexi Strohschein gave a strong performance as lead character Rosalind and was matched by senior Eirwen Koch as Orlando, the object of Rosalind’s affection.

Nick Mollan, Sound Head and a junior at LOHS, describes some of the challenges in working with an outdoor venue.

“As someone running the electrical component, we had to determine the best layout and on the weekend of the show, with the last-minute threat of impending storms, we had to figure out how to reroute it, but this also turned into some of our best moments as we worked together as a team to solve the problem. The lights and sound members also had the opportunity to learn to use all the equipment with a four-day stage run,” he said.

The four-day production was met with an enthusiastic crowd of fellow students, family and friends who enjoyed all the hard work of Thespian Troupe 2898.