PVHS Students To Perform Ancient Greek Comedy

The cast and production team of "The Birds"

Paloma Valley High School students are putting on a modern adaption to the play, "The Birds" by the Ancient Greek playwright, Aristophanes.

The comedy, which is over 2,000 years old, was selected by the students and approved by their teacher, Stephanie Fomby.

"The kids had read different plays and they had submitted them to me over the summer, two of which were Greek plays" Fomby said with excitement. "One of them was a little silly and I wanted to something a little more traditional," she said. "This was the balance. This particular script by Walter Kerr was the compromise version. It wasn't too serious."

Nearly the whole production is run by the students, from acting, set design, costumes, and lighting. The set was conceptualized to meet the vision of the students and costumes were given a more steampunk look rather than the traditional Ancient Greek appearance.

"Anytime you can get students to buy into a project, you get a better product out of them," Fomby commented. "So the more input they have, the more connected and ownership they have with the project."

For those who are interested in attending, the show opens tomorrow, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. and has encore performances Oct. 17 and next week on Oct. 23. The box office will open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets will be $5 for students with a Wildcat card, $6 for students without a card, $5 for senior citizens, and $8 for general admission.

Fomby also said that two other productions can be expected later on in the school year. "We're going to do a holiday extravaganza which is what we're hoping is a U.S.O. type theme bringing some bands, some dancers and having lots of things going. Then we're hoping to do 'Shrek the Musical' for our spring musical."