MONTREAL -- At Beaconsfield High School, the show must go on.
Students at the high school in Montreal's West Island will perform the annual school play, only this year, it’s online.
“I just had to rethink how I’m going to pull something off,” said Jeff Pinsky, head of the BHS drama department.
Last year, two weeks before the annual play was to be performed, COVID-19 brought the curtain down on the entire school year.
“We had the whole stage set up, the kids were ready to go and then it got shut down, so I didn’t want that to happen again two years in a row," said Pinsky.
So they went online with a production called 'School Picture Day.' The plot: the school hires a photographer to take everyone’s photo on Zoom.
"But this photographer has evil designs and is bent on world domination and plans on using these ordinary school photos to doctor them to make them look ridiculous and make himself look fantastic and showcasing this for the whole world," Pinsky explained.
Student actor Melanie Pomerleau said performing online forced her to stretch some creative muscles.
"You’re forced to be hyper aware because you can constantly see yourself. When you get on stage, you're naturally put into your character, where you’re in that setting and you know what you’re expecting," she said.
"If it’s on a stage, there’s a lot of people, you can look in different directions, but when it’s on Zoom, you can really see yourself, so you have to be careful of what’s around you. You always have to be in character," added student actor Ciara Woods.
It’s also not easy rehearsing in your room when your kid sister keeps knocking at your door.
"Really, the only issues that we had were some tech issues, like your video is lagging or 2020’s most popular phrase, 'you’re on mute,'" said Pinsky.
The play will be available beginning Friday on the BHS Drama channel on YouTube.
