Santa Barbara High School’s theater team performed a student play titled Teenage Wasteland that was held from Nov. 14-22. According to a SBHS theater department press release, the play asks: “what does it mean to be human right now and where do we go from here?” It was a special play that included audience participation and was held in a circular designed structure. During the play, the production used a cell phone hotel system so there are no distractions, as technology may distract or ruin the effects.

When talking to sophomore Dragon Aditiya, a core eight performer who’s been doing theater since seventh grade, said, “Teenage Wasteland, (as) we were writing and creating it along in the process, there was no pre written script which was really interesting…also there weren’t many lines that I had to learn. That was really interesting and a new angle of where I was learning my show and how I should perform them.”

Senior Kamile Zaunius, one of the core eight actors, said, “The process of Teenage Wasteland was very interesting and unique because the core eight have certain pieces in the play that we created our own moves to from prompts or questions the director asked us, and it follows a nice storyline of the teen vision and how we live in the now.”

The crowd reaction she was looking for is, “everyone to feel excited and realize that there are different types of theater that are just as beautiful as straight plays, as well as people getting up to dance as there is audience participation.”

What separates Teenage Wasteland from other plays is it being, “more movement based and less lines than a straight play, but it’s more fun because you get to realize new ways your body can move and express things instead of having to rely on words or facial expressions you make.” 

After opening night, senior Margo Carmean, the theater club president, said, “everything went really well, it was really nice to have an audience to interact with, as we’ve only interacted with people who’ve already seen the show before. Talking to people after the show I got good responses from people thinking about their life, which is the message we intended to send.” In a show like this one, “the energy in the audience needs to be high as we have certain moments like the dance party scene, so last night was great and we hope we can keep that up.” 

The difference between Teenage Wasteland and all the shows they’ve done recently before is that, “Dance and body movement is basically all it is and that’s kind of my favorite part of doing theater here so I really enjoy that, and there is no script that separates it from other plays, but we are still bringing the same energy and feel.” 

Audience member Theo Galesbi had friends in the show and does theater, but wasn’t sure what to expect. “What’s cool about it is you kind of had to put the plot together; it wasn’t given to you, kind of having to think about what you were watching. Also being told to dance was something unexpected and fun.” Melonie Snyder was another audience member who thought, “Overall the show was really good and unique as well as personal to the feelings.” She was also one of the audience members who danced with the performers, and said she “liked the interactive feature as it made the whole room more alive.”

Teenage Wasteland was something fun, interactive, and unique from most other theater performances. It was a great way for the students to express how they feel and try something new. A takeaway from the play was to come out with a new perspective about our own lives. 

Image Credit: Antonio Aceves