On Dec. 10, families and friends gathered at Del Mar High School’s Performing Arts Center to watch students perform in the school’s first annual Winter Theatre and Dance Showcase.
The showcase was divided into two acts, featuring a comical one-act murder mystery play and dance routines from “Six: The Musical,” performed by students from Del Mar’s new dance class.
The first act, “How to Get Away With a Murder Mystery,” is a two-person narrated play that explores how to both commit and solve a murder. The play features a stereotypical cast of murder mystery characters with color-themed names; Orange (Chase Van Every), Green (Maddie Welch), Burgundy (Charlie Habberley), Indigo (Joselin Martinez Juarez), and Off-White (Aleena Menjivar), along with humorous input from the dead body (Kai Cedillo).
The play moves through multiple scenarios and locations where these murders take place, situations like guests at a senator’s office, visitors of an off-brand sea world dubbed “ocean world”, scientists in a lab, a rockstar at home attended by his groupies, and performers at Cirque du Soleil. Each scenario introduces a new tactic to either aid or catch the murderer.
Narrator One (Olivia McPhail) offers tips to the criminals, suggesting strategies like fleeing, accusing others, or creating foolproof alibis. The murderers are also advised to make the crime about themselves, using love as a motive, acting as if they have no motive for the crime at all, or if all else fails, murdering the lead detective.
Narrator Two (Alezandrea Saldua) provides advice on solving mysteries, such as conducting interrogations, using logic, or delivering lengthy monologues until the culprit confesses out of boredom. Each new scenario introduces a different detective figure, from an elderly woman from a small Maine town to a girl with a supernatural ability to detect lies.
Throughout the performance, the audience enjoyed surprises with characters interacting off-stage, running among the guests, or pointing to scenes happening elsewhere. “There’s a few bits in the one act that have a little bit of audience participation, just with them needing to see stuff,” comments senior Chase Van Every, who played Orange. “And it went pretty well, I think.”
The second act is a performance of “Six: The Musical” by students in Del Mar’s new elective dance class.
“Six: The Musical” narrates the stories of King Henry VIII’s six wives. Del Mar’s performance included original choreography by theatre teacher Chloe Biggs and the students, as the original musical is presented as a singing competition, with the leads only moving around with microphones.
The main leads of the musical are Catherine of Aragon (Anna Rodriguez Peralta), Anne Boleyn (Maddie Welch), Jane Seymour (Lynessa Ruiz), Anne of Cleves (Maria Cacacho Bayot), Katherine Howard (Mikayla Welch), and Catherine Parr (Ren Lockwood), and Hans Holbein (Chase Van Every), with each queen leading their own dance during the performance.
The students performed nine songs from the musical, including “Ex-Wives,” “Don’t Lose Your Head,” “Haus of Holbein,” and “I Don’t Need Your Love.” The songs depict how each queen met Henry VIII, their experiences during marriage, and their fates afterward.
Most of Henry VIII’s marriages ended poorly, with Catherine of Aragon and Anna of Cleves divorced, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard beheaded, Jane Seymour passing during childbirth, and Catherine Parr being the only “lasting” wife of Henry due to him passing away during the marriage.
Sophomore Mikayla Welch, who played Katherine Howard, discussed her performance anxiety. “The first thing that I was nervous about was just in general, like going on stage in front of everyone. After that was done, I was pretty chill,” said Welch.
Preparation for the showcase had been underway for most of the semester, with the theater and dance performances directed by Biggs.
“I think seeing the students that started out as like, very, very, beginner, like this is their very first time maybe stepping foot on a stage or learning choreography or acting, the difference between the first day of school and, you know, the day they perform is, like, astronomical,” Biggs shares. “Getting kids interested that maybe never knew they would like something like this is really, really fun. And a lot of them, you could see like, their personalities on stage, and they’re having fun with their friends, and like, that’s what it’s all about.”
The Spring Theatre and Dance Showcase is scheduled for May 23, 2025.
