NEDERLAND -- On Friday, November 7th, and Saturday, November 8th, 2025, Nederland Middle-Senior High School students performed their annual fall play program. The program is the first at the school after the retirement of long-time music and theater director Elizabeth Evans.

The middle and high school performances developed this year with the leadership of successive music director Alia Brand and theater director Jamie Lammers (a returning alumnus). Ultimately, the program included a total of four one-act plays featuring the students.

Opening the program on Friday was the Stephen Gregg comedy This is A Test, last performed at the school in 2015. Brand directed the show’s cast as part of her Intro to Theater class at the school.

Test centers on student Alan Lefenfeld (played by Finn Fitzer) as he struggles to take a test, feeling as if his classmates (Mars Gervais, Kyle King, River Lemaster, Emmy Oline, and Jenson Prahl), his inner thoughts (Reya Levy as a narrator, Mason Ivey as Mrs. Lefenfeld, and Perrine Breche, Roo Mannion, and Jace Thurston as a taunting chorus), and even his teacher (Corbin O’Rourke) are completely against him.

Closing the program on Saturday was the Lindsey Price vignette play Hoodie, directed by Lammers. The show follows multiple students in varying circumstances as they figure out how to fit in, how to act, and most importantly, what to wear.

The ensemble cast starred Myla Yoh as the title character, who appears in transitional sequences throughout the show as a throughline. Also appearing throughout the show is a Clump, entities that group in fear of sticking out (Cadence Case, Ember Eich, Cora Michael, Annnabella Hupp, Araya Frank, Delilah Hundley, Olive Diaz, Tyler Goodnow, and Penelope Epp).

The majority of the cast (including all of the Clump members and Hoodie) played multiple roles, with individual character scenes also featuring Sandra Dulude, Isla Harmon, Ollive Hawkins, Glori and Nora Howell, Izzy Moore, Maisie Shaub, Eliana Sibray, Soren Stanton, Penelope Turner, and Luna Weeks.

Both nights included performances of two student-directed shows: the Peter Tarsi drama Tracks, directed by Hazel Kelley (last performed by the school in 2019), and Cyanide, a world-premiere surrealist comedy written by its director, Evelyne Stanton.

Tracks takes place in a subway station where a group of strangers come together, unsure of how they all arrived. As they recount where they came from, they realize they’re all in limbo after their deaths, and they have to figure out where the subway train goes.

They all come from different places and have different backgrounds – a businessman (King), a businesswoman (Skyler Dulude), a lawyer (Harmon), a professor (Ben Weber), an old man (Goodnow), a homeless girl (Ezra Baumhover), a nun (Andrea Basdeo), a high school boy (Dylan Karowe) and his girlfriend (Libby Chandler), and a waitress (Adeline Buckland) – but they all find themselves wondering the same thing: are they good or bad?

Finally, Cyanide takes place in an idyllic village, a peaceful settlement for residents Professor Kilmer (Paul Garrigou), his wife Mrs. Watson (Molly Wasil), and orchard owner Austin (Baumhover). When resident Mr. Ledger (King) starts seeing things that seemingly aren’t there, and as visitors Anne (Kai Leavens) and Renee (Nitzana Harkness) arrive in the village, everything turns upside down, and they all realize there might be something more at play behind the scenes (Stanton).

Previous programs have incorporated talent show acts in between each play, and many middle and high schoolers auditioned for the talent show. However, in order to prioritize the main shows, talent show finalists were acknowledged both nights, and their performances will be moved to the school’s winter choir concert, which starts at 7 p.m. on December 17th.

With Brand and Lammers running the main program, the student directors and actors working to bring their shows to life, and Lola Kelley handling final lighting design and changes, the middle and senior high’s theater department brought their best to the table in a way only Nederland can.

Correction:

To our dismay, we misrepresented one of the NMSHS students in the Fall Play article in the November 20 issue of The Mountain-Ear. We called the talented Molly Wasil "Molly Shipman." We apologize most earnestly to Ms. Wasil.