Virden Collegiate Institute (VCI) held their first Dinner Theatre Tuesday, Jun. 6 and Wednesday, Jun. 7 at the High School in the evening. Last year, VCI did a Dessert Theatre to work into doing a Dinner Theatre this year, and other years the students have done a play at the Aud Theatre for everyone to enjoy.
VCI Teacher Tricia Hayward said, “We had about 160 people attend in total. There was a few more on Tuesday, however on Wednesday, I know that there was the Fort La Bosse Recognition Dinner so I think that played into it a bit. I was happy with the turnout, last year we did a Dessert Theatre and we had about the same number of audience members, but it was too crowded for only one night so this year we decided to do two nights and that was a great decision, because it gave the students the opportunity to perform for an audience twice and show off their hard work.”
Both nights at the High School were a big success for the drama students, being able to pull off two great dinner theatres for the audience and themselves. “The students really pulled together and worked as a team. The students are 100% involved and did the majority of the work. Not only does each student in the class have lines to memorize and a play or two to be in, but they do all the work behind the scenes from moving sets, gathering props, staging, performing, serving, cleaning up and never with a grumble or a complaint.”
Hayward continued explaining the excitement and how proud of the students she is, “The night can only be a success when you have students who take ownership of the evening and truly enjoy the entire process. The drama students realize it’s not about being the ‘star’ because they all have significant roles and there is no one person that is more important than another because the evening would not be a success without everyone working together.”
The money that is raised from the VCI Dinner Theatre, after expenses are paid off, is going towards the hard working ladies at the Virden Costume Closet. “After expenses are paid there will not be much left, but we will be making a donation to the Costume Closet. The ladies at the Costume Closet are so wonderful and patient with our drama classes.”
Hayward continued, “The students really enjoy the time they spend picking out costumes for the festival and their final projects. We couldn’t put on performances or perform in the festival without this great resource and our community is so lucky to have the volunteers that we have to make this happen--they are so obliging and awesome.”
This year the students proudly performed plays for the audience that were written by Virden’s George Baker, which was a huge excitement, as both of his sons were a big part of the drama department throughout their high school years. Hayward said, “It was special to have George write this year’s plays for the class and tailor make them for the class dynamics and population. Next year we are changing it up a bit but we look forward to performing again for a great audience.”
