After a short and stressful preparation, the drama department adds the final touches for their play, “The Babbling Brooks,” by Kurtz Gordon, which will be performed March 8 and 12 at 7 p.m. in Ground Zero.

The three-act comedy revolves around a family who prefers to exaggerate everything rather than keep life simple. The youngest child of the family, Betty Brooks (Nacoya Villegas, ’12), starts up a newspaper with her friends called The Babbler to cover all of the neighborhood gossip. Naturally, rumors spread an atmosphere of animosity between families and friends.

Drama instructor Brianne Vogt feels that the play captures both attention from the audience and skills from the actors.

“I think audiences will enjoy humor and fun silliness in the play,” Vogt said. “There was a learning experience for everyone involved, myself included. I feel like a lot of actors grew in their skills. The goal was to stretch actors in ways they haven’t been stretched. I expect more of them than they may expect of themselves, and hold them to that.”

Despite the quick preparations, Vogt sees the accomplishments of the cast.

“I feel good about how the product has come out,” Vogt said. “The students have risen to the occasion. The script comes alive when I see students make choices about their characters on their own, and discover ideas for themselves.”

Although sophomore Brianna Carlson felt pressure while preparing a play in a short amount of time, she has noticed the work coming together into a show.

“We had only about eight weeks between the time that anyone knew which play we were performing, and actually going onstage to open,” Carlson said. “Once we received our parts, five weeks from opening night, we all were memorizing like crazy. With only eight weeks to pull off ‘The Babbling Brooks,’ it was rather stressful. Somehow we are actually getting rather good. It’s hard work, but a lot of fun to see the actors getting into their characters.”

Now that the preparation has come to an end, the play approaches quickly.

“It’s always unnerving to open a script and realize that in a few days, you have got to go onstage in front of your peers and perform it to a level that they will actually believe you are your character,” Carlson said.

However, the anticipation creates a motivation for the cast, according to Carlson.

“This pressure tends to help the cast pull the play together,” Carlson said. “Besides actually performing in the play, the best part of the process is at the curtain call. The actors go onstage and think ‘Thank you, Lord! We actually got through the play and the audience actually clapped!'”

For senior Doug Daniel, “The Babbling Brooks” is part of the conclusion to his high school drama career.

“This is either my last or second to last play,” Daniel said. “I’m excited to be a part of it, and I think that the finished product will turn out well. After this, drama will probably end for, me and I’ve had a lot of fun being part of it.”

Tickets for “The Babbling Brooks” cost $6 for general audiences and $4 for students and staff. For more information, e-mail Brianne Vogt.