TOWAMENCIN- The glitz and glamour of the 1920s era was revived in the North Penn High School Auditorium Thursday morning as the cast and crew of the Fall Drama Once in a Lifetime performed a preview for the students. This comical drama takes place during the Roaring Twenties as movies are transitioning out of the Silent Film Age and into speaking films. Characters Jerry Hyland, May Daniels, and George Lewis, played by students Matthew Wynne, Melissa Fuhr, and Zach Arsalane, respectively, venture from New York City to Hollywood to train actors on how to speak in film. The characters find that the actors they are training have less than well-developed acting skills, creating a comical aspect to the show. The school preview showed the students Act 3, Scene 1, in which the characters are on a movie set about to film the final scene.

“We performed the last take of the movie scene, and we’re filming, and pretty much everyone acting is a bad actor, and we’re just trying to deal with that. As Herman Golgauer (the Producer) comes in to check out what’s going on, we find out that it’s the wrong picture. Then everyone freaks out and everyone loses their jobs. Then later they all get hired back because the show is a success, but that happens immediately so that’s one of the many comical moments that happens,” said Fuhr.

From when auditions occurred in September until now, the cast and crew has been working endless days and nights to memorize lines, sew costumes, and build a set. With the tech director, Mr. John Buckner, recovering from knee surgery until the beginning of November, the set creation was behind schedule. Five hour rehearsals for many nights and even a ten hour technical rehearsal day paid off for the cast and crew, as all the costumes and sets were ready for opening night.

“Altogether we’ve been trying to pull together a lot of really big scenes with a lot of characters, so there is a scene going on one side of the stage and then immediately on the other side. And we have to figure out what we’re doing with mics and switching mics. [We’re] making sure the pace is quick because it is a comedy, and if you slow it down, then it’s going to be boring,” said Danica Clauser, who plays Susan Walker.

Clauser’s character is one of the many characters who have no acting experience with speaking films. These characters create the show’s most humorous moments.

Every show has difficult tasks to work through, and with Once in a Lifetime, trying to act like a bad actor and the quick overlapping scenes became difficult issues.

“As you noticed in this scene, everyone was overlapping each other and we had to find a nice balance between being able to understand what’s going on while overlapping each other and sounding like a busy set,” said Fuhr.

The curtains open for Once in a Lifetime Thursday evening at 7:30 in the North Penn High School Auditorium along with other performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 as well as a Sunday matinee at 2. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults. All are encouraged to attend as, after all, the chance to see North Penn’s Fall production is truly once in a lifetime.