On Friday night, Spirito Hall filled with students, families, friends, and staff, eager to see what the Drama production’s second performance of “Dr. Evil and the the Basket of Kittens” would entail.

On Friday night, Spirito Hall filled with students, families, friends, and staff, eager to see what the Drama production’s second performance of “Dr. Evil and the the Basket of Kittens” would entail.

The play tells the story of Dr. Evil, narrated by his neighbors, Mary Shelley and Dr. Frankenstein, as he unleashes his new invention, the thermal ray, with plans to destroy the world. In order to build the funds for his invention, Dr. Evil invites the Council of Evil in the hopes of emptying their pockets.

An eventful night unfolds before him with his vampire mother, hunchback servant, a mourning mummy, and a family of hyenas down the road. The only thing in his way of impressing the council, however, is a basket of kittens.

This year, Jonathan Lanteigne and Charlie Klucker co-directed the play, the first time directing at Foothill for both of them. While Lanteigne has directed one play before at the Performance Theatre for Young Artists, for that play he was directing children, and he had an entirely different experience directing for Foothill.

“This is people my age, and some of them wanted to be sassy but we got it done. It’s doing good,” Lanteigne said.

Lanteigne and Klucker took on a heavy duty this year specifically due to new teacher Sarah Page being appointed as the new drama instructor after long-time drama instructor Karen Rodrigues’ leave.

Lanteigne stated that rehearsals were long and interesting, but with dedication and hard work they were able to get back on their feet and get students going.

“A lot of this was pretending we had the answers,” Klucker said, who directed for the first time and found it a “wild ride.”

Cast members were enthusiastic, and full of energy. Some things didn’t go exactly as planned, but the cast pulled through resulting in laughter and “aws” from the crowd. 

“We were really stoked for the play, a lot of us were really nervous, and we love improvising when things don’t go quite as planned,” said sophomore Sam Blessum, who played one of the council members. Blessum added that this performance was “one of our best successes.”

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“I didn’t know what to expect when I was coming. I thought, ‘It sounds kind of silly by the name,’ but I actually enjoyed it. We were pleasantly surprised,” parent Laura Mann said. 

Foothill senior Andrew Jespersen rated the play nine out of ten. He has never been to a Foothill play before, but is looking forward to returning for future productions.

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After the show, Lanteigne and Klucker announced that the Foothill Drama Department will be holding a Spring Show for the first time in Foothill’s Drama program history. According to Klucker they want to do “something different,” and serious plays are being considered for a first.

“Jonathan and I are running blind right now, so we figured we might as well go full speed and swerve rapidly just to see what happens.”

Background Photo Credit: Grayson McCoy/The Foothill Dragon Press