After 12 drafts, high school senior Mitchell pens metaphysical production

By Zach Miners

zach@glenrockind.com

“Isabelle dies?” Monroe, played by Savanna Mitchell, asked incredulously, referring to her character.

“Yeah, it’s a tragedy!” the director, Helga, played by Hilda Williams, responded, setting the record straight.

This heated exchange played out on the auditorium stage at Glenrock Intermediate School on Dec. 9, as members of the Glenrock High School Theater Troupe 1092 performed “The Knights Templar.”

The play, about a group of teenagers who attempt to put on their own play, lent an unusual metaphysical air to the evening at the school.

The production featured an obstinate and defiant cast of characters, who often questioned the motives of the characters they were tasked with playing for the play-within-a-play.

It was, for them, a difficult task. The characters alternated between bouts of rage and in-fighting, often with comedic and sometimes violent results.

But perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the play was its creator: Glenrock High School senior and playwright Savanna Mitchell, who went through 12 drafts of the script before it was deemed ready for production.

“I thought it would be a fun thing to do with my friends to wrap up my senior year,” she said.

The theater group put on two performances of the play to an audience of several dozen friends and family members. Mitchell was honored in a small on-stage ceremony following the second performance, in which she was presented with bouquets of flowers by members of the cast and crew.

She was elated following the second performance and ceremony, and she struggled to fight back tears.

“This is the first time a work of mine has been produced onstage,” Mitchell said. “It felt awesome.”

The production and performance of the play represented the realization of a dream of Mitchell’s, who has for several years aspired to have one of her works performed in front of a live audience.

Her friends and fellow thespians Hilda Williams and Emmeline Cotton helped her with the initial concept.

The concept of a play-within-a-play seemed unique, Mitchell said. They also thought it would be funny to riff on themes typically associated with the historical Knights Templar and the Middle Ages.

Mitchell, who has also penned short films and skits, said it took her about a month to complete the final version of the script.

The theater group also plans to submit a video recording of the performance to the Wyoming State Thespian Festival, held virtually this year due to the coronavirus.

Writing is Mitchell’s passion and she is fully devoted to it. Her next project is a film screenplay about a wrestler, she said.

But don’t expect a repeat of the zaniness of her “Knights Templar.” The film project, she said, is a drama.