On Dec. 1 and 2, the LSE theatre department performed their Winter One Acts. The first Winter One Act performance is “The 39 Steps Even More Abridged,” which will be followed by the performance of “The Secret of Madame Defarge”. 

Theatre Director Tyler Lambley directed “The 39 Steps Even More Abridged” One Act. “The 39 Steps” is a chaotic whodunit mystery which featured junior Kalainey Nickel as one of the four cast members. Nickel first played Annabella Schmidt, a German spy, but then switched to play Pamela Edwards, a stubborn British woman. 

“A lot of this show’s preparation revolves around the dialects,” Nickel said. 

Different accents and dialects aren’t the only thing that makes this performance unique, but also the cast of only four actors and actresses. 

“[The cast] becomes a family especially when you’re in such a small cast, like a cast of four people,” Nickel said. 

English teacher Kathryn Frankforter directed the following act, “The Secret of Madame Defarge”. This play is about a woman, Madame Defarge, who holds a secret that drives her to seek revenge against a powerful family. Senior Olivia Jones played the lead role, Madame Defarge.

“It’s so much fun and it’s given me more of an idea of the different ways you can play a character. It’s showing me that it can be interpreted in different ways,” Jones said. 

However, this was the first lead role that Jones took on since the COVID school year, and she felt the pressures of this important role.

“[I have] been really hard on myself and I feel like I’m not going to live up to what everyone’s expecting of me,” Jones said.