On January 20th, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) presented its third annual Take 10 event. What is Take 10, you ask? It is a showcase of ten minute plays written by students from the Creative Writing department and chosen by a jury for a festival of staged readings. After the selection process, the playwrights cast Creative Writing and Theatre students as the characters in their own plays. The writers have the opportunity to produce, direct, and perform their work to an audience of friends and family in HSPVA’s Studio Theater.
Take 10 originally started as a student created event, and it quickly grew in popularity amongst the student body. The performance has become a fan favorite amongst the many different shows across the different departments. Reviews of this year's show were high, with both the playwrights and the audience believing that this Take 10 was the best one yet. “This year’s Take 10 was the show of all time,” said Jake Rodriguez, audience member and actor. Bella Ramirez, multi-time Take 10 playwright, remarked, “Take 10 is a wonderful experience because it’s so cool to see people come together across departments to create a unique performance.”
The plays over the years have touched on a variety of topics, such as cloning, test taking anxiety, high school romance, surgeries gone wrong, kitchen accidents, curtain call mishaps, and sci-fi checkers. This year’s producer and director was Eva Rami, whose own play, “Girl History,” kicked off the night. The program included, “All In Vein” by Desi Burns, “Shut Up and Play Checkers” by Cameron Lightfoot, “But Not Forgotten” by Christine Liu, “What’s For Dinner” by Bella Ramirez, “Perigee” by Sofia Williams, and “Wonderful Christmastime” by Shaler Raborn.
Take 10 was the second of the three main shows done by HSPVA’s Creative Writing Department this year, with Fall Off the Page in November bookending the year with Spring Off the Page coming later this year on April seventh and eighth. If you’d like to see entertaining plays or pieces of writing, I highly recommend attending one of these shows in the future.
