Ganado's One Act Play advances, plans public performance

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
Ganado High School’s theater program has found roaring success, earning a spot in regional competition, as well as more than a handful of awards.
Their play, a drama called Dark Road by Laura Lundgren Smith, follows the true story of Greta, a young german girl who took a job at a Nazi concentration camp to make ends meet and provide for her sister, eventually assisting in the now-infamous experiments done in the name of “science” within the walls. Greta becamse the youngest female Nazi guard to be executed for war crimes.
“Laura Lundgren Smith composed an extremely powerful play depicting the effects of the Nazi Propoganda machine on the mind of an impressionable young lady,” said Director Virgil Knowlton in an email, “The great depression in Europe created a bleak economic situation in Europe and Hitler’s blaming of the Jews and other non-Aryan races appealed to many in Germany. Great, a victim of this poverty and an orphan, was saddled with the responsibility of raising her younger sister.”
The play reveals how easily humans can be duped by propoganda, and how well people can rationalize behaviors otherwise considered reprehensible as Greta slowly drifts away from her sister and from morality.
Ganado’s performance of Dark Road has earned two Best Actress designations for Story Sudik, a Best Actor designation apiece for Christian Palacios and Kendall Adrian, as well as All-Star Cast awards for Haley Kelly, Sonia Mata, and Kendall Adrian, Honorable Mention All-Star Cast awards for Brenna Barrow, Emarie Aldridge, Emily Bubela, and Kendall Adrian. Dylan Timberlake received a Tech Award.
The students will take their performance to the stage at Regional competition on Thursday, April 6, at Corpus Christi’s Warran Theatre. Shows Start at 2 p.m.
Those who can’t travel to see the show can catch it on Sunday, April 9 at the Ganado High School Auditorium at 5 p.m.