Malcolm High School students, from left, Jacob Clarke, Archer Moody, David Swotek, Tyler Thieman and Clayton Zimmerman perform in the school’s one-act play production, “Nevermore in Neverland.”
The small towns across Nebraska are filled with talented students. Some are good ball players. Others can run fast or jump high. Some students are adept in the art of music. Still others excel in the dramatic arts.
At Malcolm High School, you will find students excelling in all of the above, but the activity that attracts the largest number of students is the one-act play production.
With Tami Maytum at the helm for her eighth year, the Malcolm play performance – with its cast and crew of 97 students – is impressing audiences, and perhaps more importantly, judges across the state.
Their performance of “Nevermore In Neverland” has earned high praise as Malcolm earned top honors at the Kearney Festival and the East Central Nebraska Conference competition. In addition, Malcolm was awarded Best Drama at the recent Lincoln High Festival. The Clippers finished second at the York Play Festival.
Maytum and her co-director, Austyn McKee, wrote the piece as an original derivative prequel to the original “Peter Pan” by J.M Barrie. Maytum’s husband, Mike, helped compose the music while also serving as the technical director.
“We enjoy writing our own scripts,” Maytum said. “In order to write this piece, Austyn and I sat down and began looking at the ‘what ifs’ of a possible backstory to Peter and James.
“Was Hook really the bad guy, or was Peter not all that the Lost Kids thought he was?”
Making a good script come to life requires talented actors, of which there is no shortage at Malcolm. Playing the role of Peter Pan, David Swotek has been recognized at each competition. The junior was named best actor at the ECNC competition while also receiving outstanding acting awards at York and Kearney.
“David wasn’t originally cast as Peter when we did auditions,” Maytum said. “Jacob Clarke was. I needed a Peter Pan with a little more attitude and swagger, and Jake brought that to auditions.
“A couple of weeks into practices, my director’s intuition kicked in, and I felt like something just wasn’t right. Jake and David are both so talented and versatile, and I wanted to see what would happen if we switched them around. Probably the greatest thing about the change was the team player attitudes they both showed.
“Not once did they complain or question. They each expressed wanting to do what was best for the team.”
Swotek is not alone in being recognized. At the Lincoln High Festival, Archer Moody joined Swotek in being awarded a medal and being placed on the Outstanding Festival Cast. Moody, Clarke, Emily Steiner and Clayton Zimmerman have each been recognized multiple times for their outstanding performances.
With a cast and crew so large, just getting to their performances is a challenge. Two buses, an 11-passenger van, a truck and a trailer are required to get the students and all of their sets and props to each location. It also means nearly half the student population of 197 is absent from school on performance days.
“It is rare for a Class C school to have such a large traveling cast and crew,” Maytum said. “The most difficult part is literally having nowhere to go – a locker room or home base classroom – when you get to a performance venue.
“We travel in costume and makeup, carrying only our garment bags with us.”
Malcolm competes this week in what is arguably the toughest district in Class C1. Centennial will host the C1-2 district on Wednesday, Dec. 4. In addition to Malcolm, who will be seeking its fourth straight state berth, the district contains defending state champion Aquinas Catholic, 2017 state champion David City and 2018 state qualifier Fillmore Central.
“It’s a killer district for sure,” Maytum said. “As well as we’ve done this year, our best performance has to be on Wednesday.”
Only the district champion will qualify for state. Unlike many NSAA sanctioned activities, there are no wildcards in play production.
“No matter the outcome, we have had one heck of a ride,” Maytum said. “What an amazing experience it has been to start from scratch, write our own piece, compose the music and perform it with a live band, and watch 97 kids work together to create something magical. No regrets.”
