Leechburg Drama Club stages ’50s film noir parody as fundraiser

Leechburg Area student Katie Monroe has been in seven shows with the Leechburg Drama Club.

She remembers the first year the club began hosting a student-run production that serves as a fundraiser for the club’s spring musical.

Three years later, she’s one of the student officers helping to direct and lead the club’s production of “The Red Herring,” a parody on 1950s film noir.

Monroe, 18, will be starring as Maggie, a Boston police detective who has postponed her marriage to Frank, an FBI agent, until she catches a notorious serial killer. Frank is played by senior John Rowan, 17.

Not only did Monroe and Rowan learn about themselves while preparing for the play, they were able to learn about scene work and delivery from some members of the show’s original cast.

According to Alyssa Bruno Walls, the club’s adviser, the show was written in Pennsylvania and brought to Pittsburgh for workshopping. Having worked with some of the cast previously, she was able to set up a Zoom call with students and cast members for a question-and-answer session.

Rowan said he had a breakthrough with his character when one of the actors reminded him that his character didn’t know how the story ends, and he needed to act like he didn’t either.

“I was really struggling to find (Frank’s) character,” Rowan said. “I felt like I knew the ending already and wasn’t really delivering the lines.”

Monroe said she peppered the actors with questions and was able to dissect some of the ins and outs of her scenes.

“It was a very special experience,” Monroe said.

Monroe and Rowan are two out of six members of the leading class and two out of four officers who are directing and arranging the show.

“This is truly something run by students as much as possible, and we really try to make it a learning experience as much as possible,” Bruno Walls said.

Monroe said she strove to be a role model during her time as a student officer. She learned she was capable of taking charge and balancing that line between peer and authority figure.

“It’s hard because you want to be that person who they can come to and ask questions, but you have to know when to say, ‘I really need you to do this,’ ” Monroe said.

Rowan said he learned the value of leading by example.

“I learned that I would never expect anybody to do something that I wouldn’t do myself,” he said.

“It’s taught me so much about leadership. I don’t think there’s another experience in high school that could have taught me more about leadership.”

The student leaders were charged with finding props from previous shows or from around the school to use in the show. Rowan said he and the other students scoured the school for extra props such as the tables used in the show.

Bruno Walls said the only cost was for the rights to perform the play.

Their work will lead up to two performances on Friday and Saturday night at the high school. Tickets are $5 for students and $8 for adults at the door.

The club members’ goal is to raise $2,000 to put toward their spring musical.