VALDOSTA — Lowndes High School Off-Broadway’s production of “Under the Influence” is intense. It has led to audiences crying while watching rehearsals.

The student actors present a series of monologues. These are stories of drug and alcohol abuse told not by the abusers but by the people left in the wake of the abusers. A young girl who must fend off a drunken father. A mother who loses a child. A young boy who learns to hate because of his abusive father’s actions.

LHS Off-Broadway’s student members read 30 plays and selected playwright Ron Parker’s “Under the Influence” because they believed it might change lives, says LHS Off-Broadway director Phyllis Childree.

While the subject matter is dramatic and difficult, it is also allows numerous performers to shine. Parker sets his play around five emotions which the co-dependents of the abusers must face: sorrow, shame, anger, isolation, guilt.

“Under the Influence” is also the play which LHS Off-Broadway will present next week during regional one-act play competition at Valdosta High School. Childree and the students have been whittling away lines to make the show fit the under-an-hour mark set for competition.

LHS Off-Broadway is having a whirlwind few weeks. “Under the Influence” is one of three plays presented by LHS in as many weeks. The other plays: The just concluded “Golliwhoppers” and the coming “Sleeping Beauty.”

“Under the Influence” is not for small children. It is a tough-minded show which the students of LHS Off-Broadway hope will influence the lives of others in a positive way.

THE CAST: Kimber Lovern, Andres Mieles, Latisha Jicha, Breanna Adams, Courtney Pape, Christie Baker, Anna Marie Boyer, Chelsea Hyers, Ethan Abbott, Jennifer Robinson, Cody Darr, Austin Rivers, Lindsay Bailey, Leeanne Griffin, Courtney Skates, Davena Smith, Candice Smith, Tyler Roberts, Hannah Hitchcock, Heather Cohen, Lauren Rentz, Bre Ivey, Michelle Moser, Sarah Delgado, Caitlyn McMillan, Cyrena Davies, Nick McConnell, Alex DeJesus.

DIRECTION, PRODUCTION: Phyllis Childree, director; Renesha White, assistant director; Jennifer Cooper, Isaiah Williams, sound; Nick Linder, Chase Staron, sound.



• SHOWTIME

Lowndes High School Off-Broadway

presents ‘Under the Influence.’

When: 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday.

Where: Lecture Hall/Theatre, Lowndes High School, off Norman Drive.

Ticket: $5.