On Wednesday, May 28, and Friday, May 30, at 7 p.m., students of the Archie Williams Communications Academy (ComAcad) presented short films in the Little Theatre. Doors opened at 6:30 p.m., where students displayed their seven original films and a Friday night exclusive documentary on the history of ComAcad. The showings showcased diverse and creative themes, including a story about teenagers dealing with grief to two girls acting upon a mermaid tail advertisement on Craigslist.
While people entered the theater, multiple ComAcad students performed songs like “Blue Velvet” by Bobby Vinton, “It Ain’t Me, Babe” by Bob Dylan, an adaptation of “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice, and multiple solo piano pieces by senior Jay Bohner. The first half of the show began with four of the seven films.
One of the original shorts, “How To Find A Rock Star,” featured a story following Margo, a girl obsessed with a rock star called Astro, on a mission to find and convince him to start producing music again. Seniors Mason Barnhardt, Bailey Dillon, Lucy Bakowski, and Tye Ryan created the film. After discovering Astro’s real name is Brent, Margo and her friend set out to find Brent, realizing he is now an accountant and father who quit his music career.
“[The film] means a lot because this is my first year of writing a script I loved…[which] encouraged me to believe in myself and be more confident in my writing. Our goal in [creating our film] was to tell a story about a teenage girl that has a hobby and loves to do things, without making her the butt of the joke because I feel like a lot of times in society, we see girls shamed for hobbies or skills,” Bailey said.
The show paused for intermission, allowing the audience to use the restroom and buy refreshments and baked goods. After intermission, the cast answered questions, followed by the second half of the show after announcing content and trigger warnings.
Another one of the films, “Space Planet,” starring Ford Cocciolo, Grey Shaw, Ace Childs, and Jocelyn Wallace, showcased the story of a human lost in space escaping a planet with an alien helper named Zork, pursuing purpose and embarking on a solo adventure.
“Me and a bunch of my friends play a role-playing game called Galaxy Raiders. It’s how all of us met, so we wanted to create a movie in that universe that represents our sense of humor as a going-away party. The biggest thing I will miss about original shorts is being around so many creatives, it’s definitely a community [of] the people I love,” Ford said.
To conclude the event, students presented a documentary on ComAcad’s history, showcasing members of ComAcad and alumni sharing their positive experiences developing relationships and learning skills within the two-year program. Greg Doherty and Francie Salle, the teachers in charge of ComAcad, expressed their enjoyment of teaching students and thanked the audience. The last original shorts performance after 23 years ended with all ComAcad students singing “We’ll Meet Again,” followed by deafening applause.
The other five films shown were “The Prophet,” “Oblivion,” “Upstaged,” “Sentimental Value,” and “Negative Space.” Past creations and content created by the ComAcad program remains on their YouTube channel “ComAcad Archie Williams HS” and on their Instagram page “@comacadinfo.” ComAcad teacher of 24 years, Greg Doherty, expressed his pride in his students’ creativity and the community ComAcad has created with him, his current students, and its alumni.
“The students’ are creative, intelligent, interesting, and caring people who are able to work together and express big ideas, [things] they care about, and funny jokes. I feel so happy…[that] the student’s work [is] being appreciated, recognized and enjoyed by people. A lot of times at these shows, a lot of former ComAcad alumni come; it’s like [a] big family reunion,” Doherty said.
