Queens Return From Fall Retreat Victorious

Photo credit|| House of QE1

After much deliberation, the House of Queen Elizabeth I reigned, taking home the win for Drama Competition.

QE1 scored a total of 100 points, the House of Lewis placed a close second with 90 points, and the Houses of Ronald Reagan and Corrie ten Boom tied for third, scoring 82.5 points.

This past weekend, The King’s College student body traveled to the picturesque upstate campground, Iroquois Springs, where the much-anticipated annual Drama Competition took place.

“As one of the earliest competitions of the year, Drama Competition is an opportunity for houses to collaborate on bringing a creative vision to life,” said Rebecca Au- Mullaney, one of the judges for the competition. “It's a more challenging task than what is required in the Great Race, for example, because Houses have to determine whose vision to follow and what kind of approach to take to the theme.”

The House of Queen Elizabeth I pose after winning 1st place. Photo credit || TKC Media Lab

This year, the theme is Sabbath. All 10 houses interpreted the theme and produced a five minute skit that debuted on the night of September 8th at Fall Retreat. The judges of this year’s Drama Competition were Dr. Dru Johnson, Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Editorial and News Director Rebecca Au-Mullaney, Housing Director Michelle Lambdin, Cameron Strittmatter, Head of Production, and Anna Peters, Director of Financial Aid.

Written primarily by Olivia Stevers and Jenn Ingraham, QE1’s performance focused on a girl named Francesca who struggles to cope with the stresses of everyday life.

“The great difficulty of creating a high-quality skit is to combine a philosophically robust interpretation of Sabbath with a polished theatrical performance,” Au-Mullaney continued. “Several of the House skits had one but not the other. The House of Queen Elizabeth's winning presentation centered around the idea that rest can't be accomplished in a checklist [...] and managed to explore the theme thoughtfully and execute their presentation well.”

It is unreasonable to expect ourselves to care for others if we do not actively take time to care for our own mental, spiritual and emotional well-being

— Olivia Stevers

“In my time at King’s, I’ve struggled with witnessing the blatant lack of self-care that exists among the student body,” Stevers said. “QE1 wanted to shine a light on these issues in a fun way.”

Narrated in a comedic story-book format, QE1 presents the protagonist, Francesca, who struggles to practice keeping the Sabbath within her life.

The drama focused in on the main character using the self-care mobile phone app, “Unplugged,” to try to achieve what it means to truly rest. Caught in the middle of the chaos of life, and people just getting by, the protagonist is forced to decide what “sabbath” means to her.

Photo credit || Wesley Parnell

“Sabbath looks different to all of us, but partaking in it gives us all the opportunity to love ourselves and the people around us as well,” Stevers said. “It is unreasonable to expect ourselves to care for others if we do not actively take time to care for our own mental, spiritual and emotional well-being. The ultimate goal in telling this story was to encourage our audience to reflect on the ways they view sabbath in their own lives.”

The message of QE1’s production is clear--practicing self-care and participating in Sabbath is a lifestyle decision. It is often too easy to over-complicate self-care, and blindly rush through life consumed with daily responsibilities. QE1’s skit highlights that it is imperative to slow down, take a breath, refocus, and take the time to get it right.

In the end, Stevers was happy the experience of working hard on the play paid off. “Moments before we took the stage, Jenn and I reassured ourselves that we’d already won because we helped QE1 come together to have some fun and create something we all felt proud to be a part of,” she said. “The fact that we won the competition was just an added bonus.”

Scores provided to the EST by The King’s College official website under the headline, Current House Competition Standings. *In the EST Weekly, the numbers mentioned were announced at Fall Retreat but don’t match the ones provided here. The placements of houses are none-the-less correct. || Graphic by Savannah White