Theatre

The Broken Window

Sayde Neubeck

November 2, 2024

Back in August, Desert Mountain’s theater director Shad Willingham announced the 2024 fall play of the year: The Broken Window by Diane Wagner. The school’s opening night on October 23rd has the honor to serve as the Southwest premiere of the script, with the closing night being attended by Ms. Wagner herself.

The Broken Window follows Ronnie (Parker York, 11th) and co. as they open the old wounds of the inexplicable death of their best friend Dani (Sophia Martone-Zoll, 10th) and try to solve the mystery of Ronnie’s missing mother. Familiar faces grace the stage in this production, with seniors Bridget Hartstein, Nicolai Borissov and Cam Hall returning from last year’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Addams Family. The play also brings a couple of new faces to Desert Mountain’s stage, namely Evan Moomjian (9th) and Sai Manvik Malreddy (10th).

The set features a two-story platform with an upstairs bedroom, staircase and downstairs hallway and dining table, as well as a dilapidated porch to the side. The set was made to be taken apart and put back together for easy transport, as the performance is qualified to have a chance to perform at the Arizona Thespian Festival; an annual event held in November at the Phoenix Convention Center, attended by thousands of theater students across the state.

Stage managers Ash Rosenfeld (11th) and Adyson Lundberg (11th) work alongside seasoned techies to add sound and light to the mysterious world of Wagner’s The Broken Window, shaping the show into the incredible production that it was.

About the Contributor

Sayde Neubeck, Writer

Sayde Neubeck is a junior at Desert Mountain High School, aiming toward Northern Arizona University to become a high school counselor. She's very excited about her second year writing for Wolf's Print, especially while having the opportunity to watch the club flourish under Anne Williams' presidency. Sayde's lived in Arizona with her mom and younger half-brother her whole life, the rest of her family being in Michigan. From her younger elementary years, Sayde can vividly remember writing stories with her friends on the playground and illustrating them together, then sharing them with their friends, family, teachers and classmates. Her love for reading started in 4th grade with Daisy Meadows' Rainbow Magic: The Rainbow Fairies series. Since then, she's branched out to genres such as thriller, romance, murder mystery, historical fiction and dystopia. Some of her favorite books include—but are not limited to—The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. No matter how much she loves telling stories through words, Sayde's true devotion is in telling stories through performance. While attending Saguaro High School as a freshman, Sayde was initiated into the National Thespian Society and part of the ensemble for Beauty and the Beast. Her sophomore year at Desert Mountain High School, she was the Caterpillar in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and scored her first lead role in Starstruck Community Theatre's Empty Suitcases as Hazel. As a junior, Sayde is the vice president of the Drama Club and starred as Jenny Capaldi in Starstruck's My Father's Daughter, and Tricia in Desert Mountain's The Broken Window. In the near future, she plans to co-write and direct an original play through Starstruck, in partnership with a close friend and castmate. Sayde can be reached through her personal email, [email protected], or her school email, [email protected].