By Amelia Turnbull ’20
On Jan. 25, some of Concordia’s talented thespians competed in a statewide theater competition. The thespian troupe was performing the play “Being Good Places,” an original play written and directed by CLHS teacher Laura Bohnke.
Bohnke started writing plays three years ago. She was invited to direct a one act play by Drama Director Chris Murphy. She then decided to write her own play. She wanted to write plays that said something and had a story. She wanted to “say something new and have fun with it.”
Last year, junior Michael Slack played Brian, the lead. Brian is an autistic young adult who has a difficult time picking up on social cues. Slack, therefore, needed to act as an autistic person. This could have been a difficult feat, but he stepped up to the challenge. He worked with Michael Dickman, Laura Bohnke’s husband who works with individuals who are disabled. Slack learned how to play a character with certain idiosyncrasies, which are not normal to everyday people.
The hard work and challenge even paid off. At the competition, Slack won “Best Actor in a Lead Roll.”
“I was very surprised to receive the award,” Slack said. “Everyone there was so talented.”
He was going up against 12 other talented lead actors to win this award.
At the competition, the Concordia group placed seventh, out of the 12 groups competing. This was a great opportunity for Concordia and a huge milestone in Concordia history.
“We had a whole lot of fun and would have been pleased with any placement. We really bonded as a cast,” Bohnke said.