Sometimes high school can make everybody feel like a freak. This is the premise of SHS’s Festival Play this fall, Freak. Despite the brevity of the one-act 40 minute play, it conveys a positive message of the power of hope.

The plot follows a high school girl, Monique, played by senior Grace Ahl, who attempts suicide due to the ridicule and torment she experiences in the halls of her high school. Before heading to the afterlife, she finds herself in an alternate world- an actual freak show.

Here, she meets other weird characters like conjoined twins Fauna and Flora (senior Shalyn O’Malley and junior Rachael Gaughan), Max (senior Will McDonald), Damien (junior Andrew Lemieux), Kitty (sophomore Elizabeth Whitehouse) and Sissy (senior Brooke Eckstrom). All of them are freaks, and reveal that they too got to this strange place by committing suicide during high school because they could not bear the suffering.

 At the climax of the play, a former bearded lady named Vivian tells Monique that she has two options. She can go back to her life in high school where she has hope; for high school doesn’t last forever, and time will eventually change her situation, or she can remain with the freaks forever and be an eternal outcast. Monique must make her decision, whether to see the light and return to pain, or live amongst the outsiders.

Monique says “I’ve already been to high school, that’s like the biggest freak show of all,” an undeniable truth that most high schoolers can relate to.

Mr. Beattie, an advisor of the Thespian Society and co-director of Freak alongside Ms. Fanelli said they chose this play because “There was an interesting emphasis on bullying, and since the school is focusing on anti-bullying programs, this fits with some of those themes. This play is different from ones we’ve performed in the past and is prevalent to students’ lives.”

“There’s a whole new group of freshmen and newcomers who have really added energy to the production,” said junior Rachael Gaughan who plays Flora. “Everyone is really enthusiastic about the performances, and the costume crew [led by Alex Morton, Elise Mercer and Maggie Kelleher] is working really hard, their designs are interesting because of the fantasy aspect of the play,” she added.

Gaughan agrees with the positive message of Freak, seeing it as “a valuable lesson about the effects of bullying, the adversities of high school, and how we need to respect each other’s differences.”

Ms. Fanelli condoned the actors, saying “I’m proud of the cast for working so hard to build believable characters, and while dramatic, they handled the material with sensitivity.”

If you missed the Freak shows last Friday and Saturday, don’t fret! You can still support SHS Drama by attending the encore performance in the last week of February, or Festival in March. Festival is a judged drama competition in which eight regional schools compete at a nearby high schools each performing a short play under 40 minutes. So if you find yourself feeling a little freakish, come to another rendition of Freak and show the Scituate Thespians some love.