Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-03-03

filled a large section of the Hender-
son high school auditorium thrilled
Thursday night to the annual play
OF the high school sophomore class.
Its title was ''The Night of January
16, play in three acts by Ayn
Rand, sensational murder trial.
So well did the players perform
that the general consensus as heard
expressed was that perhaps never
before had high school class done
was as though every individual par
ticipating attained virtual perfec-
ton in his or her part.
1t would be risky business, if in
deed not an injustice, to attempt to
point out the best performers. Some
had more difficult roles, some less,
but every one Of them was done in
manner that would nave reflected
decided credit upon professionals.
The plot itself was intensely grip
ping throughout. Then, too, the set
ting created an atmosphere of SOL
cmnity and interest The stage had
been set in the form of a court room,
with the presiding judge, the court
attaches, the prison cage and the
prosecuting and defense attorneys.
The witnesses were called from the
audience
Another unusual feature was the
fact that twelve Jurors to sit in
judgment upon the guilt or inno-
ccnce Of the prisoner, pretty .'oung
Elizabeth Laws in the role of Karen
Andre, were drawn from the audi
ence in manner closely resembling
actual court procedure For that
matter, the entire movement was al
most an exact Pursuance of the con-
duct of real court.
There was pathos, humor and the
real drama of life in the perform
ance OF the young players. Each
had been selected with remarkable
precision in assigning roles that fit
the players. And each seemed to
sense the seriousness and the gen
ulnenesS of the part and to enter in
to it in most realistic manner.
The audience sat intently through
out the performance, at times in
tense silence, again in commissions
of laughter at the wit that crept
into the procedure. There was never
a dull moment in this play. 1t was
trimming with the dramatics of
highbrow living, gangland, tragedy,
poverty and defiance of law.
At the conclusion the jury retired
to make up its verdict, as it does in
the courts of the land It returned
to find the defendant not guilty, and
the audience, in true courtroom fash
ion, broke out in deafening applause
in approval.
Ralph Fall<ner had the role of
Judge Heath in presiding. William
Perry was clerk of court, Dorothy
Haywood the stenographer, Robert
Biiler the bailiff and Evelyn Payne
the prison matron c.. r. Allen was
prosecutor-and what a prosecutor
he made! Many a solicitor in real
life fights no harder for conviction
than did he. Joel Cheatham as de-
Tense attorney carried out that role
in typical fashion and won his case
before the jury.
Elizabeth Laws was Karen Andre,
who was supposed to have killed her
business tycoon employer. Carl
Forsyth was the first witness as the
DR.. Kirkland county physician. Fol-
lowing were Gracia Harris az Mrs.
John Hutchins, Willie Lee Gram
mer as Homer Van Fleet, James
Parrish as Elmer Sweeney, Carrie
Carter as Nancy. Lee Falkner, wife
of the dead business man, Minerva
Falkner as Magda Svenson, David
Cooper as John Graham Whitfield,
father of Mrs. Falkner, the widow,
and Julia Zollicoffer as Jane Cand-
Ter, a hi9dwriting expert Charles
Eandyke played Sigurd Jungquist,
and Albert Hester was Larry Regain,
a gangster. Barbara Gray Walters
was Roberta Van Rensselaer,, wife
OF a slain gangster All were wit
nesses for or against the defendant.
The players were trained by Miss
Athleen Turnage and Miss Ruth
Evelyn Byrd, Of the high school
faculty. Ushers were Mary Louise
Murphy, Pauline McNeny, Deloris
Hinton, Mildred Edwards, Mary
Anne Cooper, Gus Zollicoffer, Billy
Tucker, Wallace Brummitt, Malvern