The Drama Department at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale was all set to wind up the school year with a festival of student-written plays. The plays were all written, put into rehearsal, and it was looking like a great start to what was hoped would become an annual event.

Then a request went out from Joplin High School in Joplin, Missouri. The tornadoes that had spread a path of destruction through the city had completely destroyed most of the campus, including the entire theatre building with all their equipment and supplies. A fund was set up through the International Thespian society to help the Drama Department to rebuild.

Fremont Theatre teacher Billy Houck saw the opportunity to help as an obvious choice: “When I saw the pictures of the destruction in Joplin, including a picture of a student standing in the middle of the rubble of what used to be the theatre, I knew what we had to do. Joplin High school is a big, old-fashioned high school building, with a large theatre, just like Fremont…or it used to be. Most Drama Departments exist on very small budgets, building up a stock of costumes, props, sets and lights over years. It would be devastating to loose it all at once like that. So our celebration of student writing has become a fundraiser for our fellow Thespians in Joplin.”

The New Play Festival will be presented one night only on Monday, June 6 at 7:30 pm in the Shannon Theatre on the campus of Fremont High School at the corner of Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road and Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale.

All seats are $5.

For further information, contact billyhouck@yahoo.com