The stage darkens and only two characters move on stage. On comes a rich young girl with a common peasant caught in a battle of wits with her father for his love and his wife.

Drama students, Sean O’Neal, ’08, Samantha Krikorian, ’08 and Ricky Lopez, ’11, went to Fresno City College to attend the annual Fresno City College Drama Festival, April 9.

“I think that it went well for us, but I left realizing how hard it is to choose a good scene to perform,” Tom McEntee, drama teacher, said. “After watching other schools perform all day, I saw how few good female rolls there are and how many scenes have bad language.”

O’Neal, Krikorian and Lopez left school at 9:40 A.M and arrived back on campus at 3 P.M. They performed a one act play called “The Common but Clever Peasant” in front of three judges.

“The theatre that we preformed at was made for drama productions, so it was much easier to perform there,” O’Neal said. “Performing there was different because not everyone laughs at your jokes. It is a competition and it is in a much bigger room.”

Although the two leading seniors are not in a set drama period, O’Neal and Krikorian felt confident with their performance at the Festival.

“Since we are in a separate class we have to run through our lines multiple times,” Krikorian said. “Performing there was a different experience; I’ve never done it before. There also was a difference in the public schools and private schools. It is fun to show them what we can do as a small school.”

As an underclassman, Lopez anticipates the competition next year.

“If I had the chance I would do it again because it was a fun and unique experience,” Lopez said. “I was able to perform in front of a crowd other than our school.”