Belvidere North’s performing art students took the stage on February 4th and 5th for the school’s winter play. This year’s winter play was based on Joe Calarcos Winter Break. The story is based on  A town in the United States of America where Winter is cold. Winter Break has just begun. Alternately hilarious and touching, the play follows nineteen teenagers, some who know each other, some who don’t, as they wrestle with friendships, breakups, loss, graduation, and their place in the world. The cast had 9 seniors, with 7 having a role and 2 working backstage as running and paint crew.

The Seniors were Mara Anton, RecieMae Bartel, Reese French, Percy Kramer, Daire Kramer, Quinn McCoy, Derrick Miller, Adriana Pecora, and Evelyn Trippiedi. They will all be taking their senior bow after their performance, a North tradition for all of the seniors that take the stage.

Mara Anton ’23  shared her thoughts about the play, “Winter Break was actually really fun. I didnt expect it to be that fun.We got to the week of and it just became a really close family and it was something that was very enjoyable.I really liked that it was like a drama and you were able to bring emotions in it and I really liked that I was able to help people feel through my acting and I really enjoyed my part that I played in Winter Break.” Mara plays Jules in the play and its one of her favorite roles shes ever done.

Here are some notes from the director, Mr. Zimmerman, talking about the process of making the show and the reason why he chose the show, “When selecting a show for this slot, I knew students wanted a challenge. Students wanted to do something dramatic but also had the end of the semester and the actual winter break right in the middle of our rehearsal process. It is such a great opportunity to have students play characters their own age, grappling with issues they deal with every single day as well as having each student focus on ONE scene that highlights them as a performer. The students met with the playwright Joe Calarco last month and it was clear that they were deep into analysis of their characters and asked amazing questions to make these people feel as real and authentic as possible (Zimmerman).

This is Norths second show this year. Be sure to check it out and the next show Cinderella.