"Check Please"

Freshmen and sophomores enrolled in Tom Dugan’s Acting class performed a one-act entitled Check Please virtually on March 4.

Written by popular contemporary playwright and Heideman Award finalist Jonathan Rand, Check Please remains the number one produced short play every season for the last 16 years. Dating can be hard. Especially when your date is pretending to know multiple languages, or giving you a PowerPoint presentation, or doing a psychic reading of your feet. As Guy and Girl each endure a series of blind dates, they think it can't get any worse—until it does. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

Suffield Academy’s Acting class is a year-long course that meets during the fall, winter, and spring terms. Spanning from classical to contemporary and tragedy to comedy, the fall term focuses on acting techniques as a general introduction to dramatic settings and character development. Winter term’s special emphasis is given to contemporary scene study and ensemble performance work while the spring term is devoted to special topics and advanced acting techniques including improvisation, acting for film, auditioning, and playmaking.

Performing Arts Chair Tom Dugan explains, “One of the major goals of the class is to increase confidence in public performance and presentation. Being in an acting class transcends numerous disciplines and will help with other academic subjects. With improvisation, we also venture into taking lots of risks (with failure being expected). I also am working with them on the appreciation of the arts, specifically theater. Even if they do not become actors (which most do not) they learn to know what goes into a performance. As adults, I want them to have that appreciation and try to incorporate it into their future lives on some level.”

You may view Suffield's production of Check Please here.