Sandra Webb

Seniors Skye Lindberg and Maddy Reinert perform a party scene from “Users.”

On Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 17 and 18, the AHS theatre department will continue the tradition of the annual drug awareness play performance.

AHS has produced the drug awareness play for “a long time, probably 20 years,” producer George Bennett said.

Student director senior Andrew Riddle will perform alongside theater 2, 3, 4 and IB students for ninth and tenth grade health and P.E. classes. Their play, Users, recounts “various stories about the dangers of drugs and what they can do to your body,” sophomore Jack Curtin said.

Students may have heard these warnings before, but the drug play conveys the dangers of drug use in a very different format that the AHS theater department hopes to use to educate the student body.

“[The play is] to let the kids experience drugs on their own level,” Bennett said, “[It’s] to let them learn about drug usage from the viewpoint of students, not just a teacher saying ‘don’t do drugs.’”

Such a serious topic can be a challenge to present on stage in a communicable way, and AHS drug awareness plays in the past have often included comic aspects.

“I try to put enough comedy into certain parts of the show so it’s not so dull and boring,” Riddle said, “but when the outcome of the character happens, it’s always serious to show that joking around has serious consequences.”

AHS is hoping that the play will encourage students to avoid drugs and each audience member is given a packet with additional information.

“Whether [the impact] is big or not depends on the individual student, but it does teach the students the consequences of drugs.” Riddle said.

A brief speech at the end of the play includes information about drug helplines, and adults at AHS who can offer help or answer questions.

“I do think it can make an impact on those who do or are considering drugs,” sophomore Peter Baek said.

The play covers a variety of drug types, including substances that are legal for adults, such as cigarettes and alcohol. It warns students that even these commonly accepted substances can be harmful, especially when used in excess. The AHS theatre department hopes to use this broad coverage to reach as many students as possible.