Students act out their differences

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

Depression, death of a loved one, stereotyping—these are issues that Oak Park High School advanced peer counselors performed last week in skits that they wrote. The presentations revealed what it’s like to be a contemporary high school student. According to OPHS graduate and the show’s co-director Lauren Soffer, 19, the production went well.

Soffer returned to OPHS to volunteer her time on the project. The 35-minute psychodrama was performed after an open house at the school and many guests stayed to watch.

"It went really well, I think," Soffer said. "And I think it was received really well. We had a question/answer period following the show, and I think the audience responded to that."

Fourteen advanced peer counselor students participated. Students were from sophomore, junior and senior classes.

"We put it on because we want to show the experiences of high school and how difficult it is to go through high school as a student," Soffer said. She added that the peer counselor group does the show every two years.

"It is such an involved process," Soffer said. "The effort involved is only able to be done every two years."

Soffer said she didn’t write any of the material in the production. But she helped young people find their stories, she said, and the students were willing tell them.

"It is written by the students about their own lives or stories that they’ve encountered in their own lives," Soffer said, "It’s sort of themed around graduation ... I was helping the students find their own stories. I think it was a real learning experience for them. I think they learned a lot about themselves and then they shared what they learned about themselves with the community."

The show was comprised of about eight skits or monologues.

According to OPHS advanced peer counselor student and co-director of the production Igor Tregub, 18, work on the production began last year. Those involved were extremely dedicated and even worked late Sunday nights before Advanced Placement exams.

The importance of the show," Tregub said, "is to let people know that they’re not alone both in their joys and their suffering because this is something that everyone has to go through and it’s okay to open up about it; it’s okay to tell it to other people because in the end, that’s the only way we can get through hard times."

Most of the peer counselors that performed had experience as thespians, so it wasn’t their first time on stage, according to Soffer.

Tregub said Soffer really brought a lot to the performances.

Soffer is interested in directing movies and will attend the University of Southern California to study cinema this fall. She co-directed the last peer counselor psychodrama two years ago as a student and also directed another peer counseling play for the school called, "Bang, Bang, You’re Dead."