REVIEW: “Graffitied Walls” accurately portrays high school life

By Micaela Everitt,

Bluedevilhub.com Editor-in-chief–

There are not a lot of high school students who can say that they wrote their own script, developed their own character and then performed in the play as their character in front of a live audience. Well, the members of the Davis High production,“Graffitied Walls” can.

In this DHS show, directed by Gwyneth Bruch, every line, every pause and every swear word was written by the cast over the course of four weeks.

Has your jaw dropped to the floor yet? Let me put it another way. A group of DHS students with sports, AP classes, musical instruments and the human-need to sleep every once in a while, wrote their own show. Not only did they write a show, but they wrote a two-hour long, plot-twisting, hit-close-to-home, make-you-think show.

Tom Chapman, played by Wil Forkin, is a nice high school boy with a suicidal sister named Taylor Chapman, played by Mikaela Manzano. Sydney Maguire plays Chapman’s photography-loving crush, Melissa Menard. Together Chapman and Menard find themselves hanging out with a group of misfits in their spare time.

Erika Archer and Ryan Seward, played by Eden Tomich and Noah Papagani respectively, are part of the group of misfits. Tomich and Papagani are self-proclaimed “drop-outs and screw-ups,” but in the end we find that they are actually just scared and confused.

Although most of us are not self-proclaimed “drop-outs and screw-ups, I can imagine us all relating to the sinking feeling of not knowing what will happen to our lives in three years, two years, one year, three months… Sorry seniors, did I strike a nerve with that one?

You might watch this play and find yourself up on that stage. The characters include many social groups typically found in high school. Some might say the characters are over the top, but I think that might just be a bit of ego saving.

The cast includes your typical grades-are-the-only-thing-that-matter kid played by Elizabeth Rutherford, your I-will-mooch-all-of-your-food-because-I-can-never-seem-to-remember-my-own kid played by Josh Garret and your always-has-all-fingers-still-up-during-never-have-I-ever kid played by Aaron Hirst.

All of the social groups spend most of their time talking and interior monologuing in a graffiti-filled alley complete with a sleeping homeless man played by Clayton Johnston, hence the title “Graffitied Walls.”

I recommend that you take a few hours out of your day to check out what months worth of hard work and dedication looks like. The last performance is on March 16 in the IPAB at 2 p.m. and there is an advisory not to bring small children due to the adult content, strong language and suggested alcohol and drug use.