Elwood One-Act Play Director Dennis Seberger, and the One-Act cast have been working hard on this year’s play. The Pukwudgie is about a small Puritan community that is terrorized by something in the woods. It is reminiscent of the lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia, where everyone disappeared without a trace.
“Our idea for this script was somewhat sparked by our studies of the Puritans in Junior English,” explained Seberger. The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible both focus on Puritans, with The Crucible highlighting the mass hysteria caused by Salem’s fear of witches and paralleling it with the fear of Communists during the Cold War. “In a setting of fear, someone gets accused, the group jumps on board, and pretty soon we have a witch burning,” said Seberger “It’s still happening today, but we call it cancel culture, so it’s still a relevant message: keep an open mind to avoid mass hysteria. Of course, our version is more for entertainment and involves some legendarily scary stuff, too!”
Seberger shared what else makes this year’s production special: “This year is exciting because we have really good buy-in with our cast and crew. Everyone is enjoying this play. Everyone has pitched in to help it grow and become what we want it to be. Everyone knows what they need to do and each person is working hard to do her/his best. Because of that, we're going to have some really good performances this year, and I'm excited to see how far we can go!”
So far, the season has been going very well; Elwood’s production took third place at the North Platte One-Act contest. “I’m really proud of our cast and crew, especially those actors that began the One-Act program a couple of years ago and said they didn’t want to be on stage,” said Seberger. “Now they’re on stage, acting and speaking lines, and we’re proud to have them. I’m also proud of how much work everyone has put into this year’s play. It really shows how committed this cast and crew are!”