Prominent high school playwright picks Eldorado HS for premiere

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It is showtime for some young actors at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque where they’re debuting a brand new show this week.

Albuquerque native and prominent high school playwright Stephen Gregg picked Eldorado High School’s theatre department to premiere his new play “Kaya Catches the Future”. Gregg said he picked Eldorado High School because he was impressed with one of their previous productions of one of his plays.

The play’s actors say it’s about a girl who has to find a way home after catching a meteor and getting taken to a different dimension.

“There’s a lot of time travel stuff, there’s strange creatures, there’s strange time loops,” drama director Cole Raison said.

Most high school theatre productions are shows that have been around for years – often plays or musicals that have been on Broadway and performed by community theatre groups – but this was brand new.

“There’s something really incredibly dynamic about working with a new script. And I know that this show, is going to be really big all over the country and so being there for the beginning, that’s just really, really exciting prominent high school playwright,” Raison said.

From the costumes to the stunt work and even the giant cardboard sandworm, the cast and crew – around 70 strong – had to figure out how to put this show on-stage themselves.

“It really is just us, because we had no one else to pull from,” technical director Ren Ahmed said.

After two months of blocking, constructing, lighting and rehearsing the show, they’re ready for an audience.

“It’s just a great opportunity to be one of the first people to portray such a strong lead role,” said Olivia Hush, who plays Kaya.

The show had a soft premiere Tuesday afternoon with more performances planned for this week.

“It’s incredible to watch the process of a play coming to life, no matter what it is but to watch new work coming through these students at this moment in time, it’s magical,” Raison said.

While Gregg won’t be able to make the show, he shared a message for the cast and crew.

“My spies tell me that you’re doing a terrific job. I know that this is a really hard task that you’ve undertaken because there is no model for you to follow. Have a terrific time. I hope you have fun with it and I hear you’re gonna do great,” Gregg said.

There are two more evening performances Thursday and Friday. They each start at 6:30 p.m., at the high school.

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