Davidson premiers 'Artificially' play

The production of a play written by Bonsall High School senior Micah Davidson was virtual rather than artificial, although "Artificially" was the name of the play which premiered April 15 on Zoom.

An estimated 40 to 45 viewers saw the initial showing on Zoom, and the play was subsequently placed on the school's YouTube channel. Approximately 100 viewers saw "Artificially" in the first 24 hours of its release.

"Overall I think it went extremely well considering what we had to work with," Liz Ryder, musical theater teacher at Bonsall, said.

"It's really interesting to have a play in this kind of climate," BHS Principal Jason Fowler said. "We had half the kids on campus and half the kids off campus."

It meant that the actors and other participants weren't at the same place at the same time.

"It was very difficult for us to coordinate," Ryder said. "That was a big challenge for us to overcome."

Approximately 40 students had some role in the production. Davidson wrote "Artificially."

"It's part of a novel that he's been working on," Fowler said.

"It's just so impressive that a high schooler could put together a half-hour play," Ryder said.

Ari Johnson, who is a junior, wrote the music for "Artificially."

"It was really impressive that she was able to write several songs," Ryder said.

Johnson also played The Mysterious Girl, who is one of the lead characters. The other lead character, Stanley Jordan, was played by Nolan Walters. Wesley King played Tim; Josie Wiscott played Katrina, Kaylee Giles played Oxlina Jones and Alex Lapoirie played the President.

Other students participated in non-acting roles. One of the other classes provided the prop and set work, which also involved coordination with Ryder's class.

"It was interesting trying to do the props and the sets," Ryder said.

Some of the filming occurred at homes rather than at the school.

"I think it was definitely a labor of love," Ryder said.

This is Ryder's first full year with BHS. She taught at Los Coches Creek Elementary School, which is in the Cajon Valley Union School District, and was a Grossmont Union High School District substitute teacher before being hired by the Bonsall Unified School District. She taught at BHS during the second semester of 2019-2020. Ryder teaches ninth grade and 11th grade English classes as well as musical theater.

"She's doing great things with our drama department and continuing to really build our performing arts program," Fowler said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].