The Hotchkiss Dramatic Association (HDA) presented the winter mainstage: True Love Never Hides from February 21 to February 23 in Walker Auditorium. The collection of plays examined romantic, platonic, and maternal love. Over 60 students contributed to the production—including three directors, 30 actors, and 26 students working in the tech and stage crews.
The production continued HDA’s celebration of 50 years of coeducation by offering three Senior girls the opportunity to direct. Danielle Attoh ’25, Lucy Hall ’25, and Serena Salfiti ’25 determined the theme, chose scripts, ran auditions, and led rehearsals. Attoh said, “It was my first time directing a mainstage by myself, so I struggled to stage on my own without the support of other people’s opinions. I tried to ensure that I was very collaborative with my actors and stage managers.”
Oliver Johnson ’25 played a jealous boyfriend visiting a haunted house with his girlfriend in the comedic play “Stay For Dinner” by Becky McLaughlin. Johnson said, “I had a lot of fun, since I got cast by a director who I’m friends with and got to interact with people I was already really familiar with.”
Some of the plays exploring romantic love included intimate moments that challenged actors. Brandon Surpris ’25, who starred in “Before or After” with Eden Selassie ’25, said, “The biggest hurdle was having to get to know my partner better and go over what we were both comfortable with, so that we didn’t feel awkward when doing intimate things on stage.”
Lily Arneill ’28, who shared a stage kiss with Charlie Wright ’27 in “Stay for Dinner,” said, “It was awkward, since I didn’t know Charlie at all and we were in different grades. We had to work up to the kissing scene by getting to know each other better, talking, and having separate rehearsals. It was especially challenging to do the stage kiss in front of the audience.”
In “Joyride” by Brad C. Slaight, Jeannie Yang ’25 played the role of Joy, a pregnant high schooler on her way to reveal the truth to her college boyfriend, Kevin. She said, “Getting into Joy’s emotional headspace, particularly when her friends are pestering her about her boyfriend, took a lot of care. I tried to build up tension from the very beginning with subtle gestures and a continuous aloofness that is contrasted by the chaos going on in the car. The actual crying took tons of rehearsing, too. I would try to get in a somber mood before the scene (think funerals, angsty poems) and alternate between shaky inhales and exaggerated sniffles when Joy finally reached her breaking point.” Mr. Derek Brashears, director of theatre and technical design, worked on designing the sets, which were built by students in the Theatre Tech cocurricular. He said, “The scenery was designed to have as much present as possible without moving much around, which is why a lot of the furniture and props were just ignored until they appear in specific plays.”
Audience member Matthew Hong ’26 said, “It was great to watch my close friends acting with entirely different personalities. I also enjoyed seeing multiple stories, unlike the usual productions that focus on a single narrative.”
HDA will present the spring mainstage, an original play written by Mallory Jane Weiss ’11, from May 9-11.
