Reedsville’s virtual play premieres this weekend

May 14, 2020

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

REEDSVILLE – Those who are running short on ideas on how to handle the quarantine might find answers in Reedsville.

This weekend, Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, Reedsville High School is presenting “10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine,” a virtual performance that will be shown on Facebook and YouTube. Act One will be shown at 7 p.m. on Friday with Act Two on Saturday. To access the Facebook watch party search ‘Reedsville Presents: 10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine’ on Facebook.

The spring play was cancelled for this year and choir director Stephanie Maertz moved swiftly to have a replacement for her students. The students who were in her theater program quickly told Maertz they were bored with time on their hands at home, she said.

“I was trying to think of something productive for them to do,” Maertz said.

And productive for herself as a teacher.

“As a choir director at school, it’s really hard to teach school virtually, so I didn’t have as many things to do anymore,” Maertz said.

What she found was Don Zolidis, a writer from Austin, Texas, on Twitter promoting the play about surviving quarantine that he wrote, which was available for free to read.

“I could not stop laughing. It was so funny,” Maertz said.

Maertz says that Zolidis fast tracked her to get the rights to adapt it for Reedsville, and she invited teachers and alumni to join her current students in performing the characters Zolidis wrote.

The full cast includes: (students) Sophie Ubersox, Elizabeth Hansen, Elizabeth Bubolz, Jasmine Junk, Makayla Junk, Madison Horn, Danny Day, Jr., Emily Morales, Avery Heldberg, Zach Boldt, Megan VanDyke, Skylar Genglar, Alanna Phillip, Trinity Schlorf, Emmett Holton, (alumni) Hannah Herdt, Grace VanDyke, Seth Luedtke, Heidi Propson, Melanie Kulas, Ann Marie Kulas, (teachers) Stephanie Maertz, Kim Luedtke, Wanda Mueller, and Ben Krull.

Please see the complete version of this story in the May 14, 2020 edition of The Brillion News.