Los Altos High School’s Acting One class performed the comedy play “Community Garden” in the Eagle Theater on April 14 and April 15. The show follows an action-packed day in the life of Ralph, a new volunteer at a community garden in the neighborhood of Uptown, Chicago. Through his observations of the residents, he learns how the community supports each other through simple but heartfelt interactions. 

Acting One partnered with Los Altos High’s Green Team, a school club dedicated to making the Los Altos community more sustainable, to spread awareness about the environment. The Green Team gave out free plants to the audience and cast members to celebrate Earth Day and encourage sustainability. 

This week’s performance was the first time the Acting One class had ever put on a full-length play for the Los Altos community. In past years, Acting One has participated in a few Los Altos High performing arts festivals, performing shorter showcases like improvisation and isolated scenes to demonstrate their skills. This year, however, Acting One teacher Lisa Battle said many students in her class wanted to take their performances to the next level. 

“We’ve tried to have some opportunity [for performing], but I kept getting feedback that they [the students] really wanted to be in a play, and they wanted to do it properly,” Battle said. 

The Acting One curriculum largely focuses on allowing students opportunities to learn about and practice acting without the pressure of performances, Battle said, but after popular demand, she introduced the option of performing a play into their curriculum. 

Because the class requires no audition, Battle decided to make participation in “Community Garden” optional for students. Each class period had its own performance, with some students given multiple roles due to smaller class sizes. Those who weren’t as comfortable performing had the option to take on technical roles off the stage, such as set design and costuming.

“I never wanted to force anyone on stage because that’s how you can turn people off from theater forever,” Battle said. 

Initially, many students were scared of performing on stage, Acting One student and freshman Mila Hermann said. In the end, however, students were able to overcome their fear once they began rehearsals.

“They [students] started realizing that it [performing] is more for the fun of it,” Hermann said. “It’s just fun to learn.”

Battle said Acting One faced many challenges while rehearsing for the play. For one, many students were participating in a play for the very first time, which created new challenges as actors began to gain experience. Acting One was also unable to use the theater due to scheduling issues and was only given a single rehearsal in the theater the same day that second period performed. This made preparation more difficult, according to Battle. 

Despite some substantial setbacks, both performances were successes. After the shows were completed, Battle said the experience of putting on a show for the community was gratifying for the students and strengthened their connection with their classmates.  

“It was fun to watch them [the students] buy into it [the play] and experience that live theater can be really fun,” Battle said. “It’s such a beautiful bonding experience for them.” 

Battle said she hopes to continue weaving more performance opportunities into Acting One in response to students and parents expressing eagerness for more higher-intensity projects like “Community Garden.” 

“I’m just so proud of them,” Battle said. “On stage they shine. … Every single kid did the best I’ve ever seen them [do].”