Morris Knolls students, write, stage own play

High school students staging plays are as common as dandelions in the springtime.

But students who also write their own scripts? That’s a rarity on par with a traffic-free rush hour on Route 80.

“I didn’t even know that,” said Morris Knolls High School senior Jenna Gregson, who co-wrote “The Robbery of J.R. Toupe” with classmate Kaitlyn Gaffney. Featuring a cast of 20, the student troupe will present its world-premiere production Friday and Saturday in the Morris Knolls auditorium.

Gregson said she was unaware that most other high schools do not produce full productions of student-authored plays because she’s seen it done before at Morris Knolls. The student Thespian Society, she recalled, staged spring productions in 2012 and 2013, but went dark last year.

“We wanted to bring it back,” said Gregson, who plans to study drama in the fall at Drew University. “We threw around a bunch of ideas and came up with this.”

“It is common here for the students to write their own plays,” said faculty adviser Sharon Garry. “they can either write their own or produce an established play, but they generally write their own here. They even wrote a musical a few years back.”

“I have never seen a play written by high school students and produced at a high school except for here,” said English teacher Harry Sahrer, who is also assisting the production, which he described as completely run by the students. “I think it’s incredible.”

“The Robbery of J. R. Toupe” is described as a “wacky crime-scene comedy” set in the fictional town of Brookstone, New Jersey.

Six local business owners come together one night to break into the house of the richest man in town, John Robert Toupe. But like most crime-scene comedies, the robbery does not go as planned, and each suspect puts a unique twist on the story for the detectives and judge.

“We wanted to write something people would know about, and people know all about these crime-scene comedies,” Gregson said. “Ultimately, it comes down to knowing your audience. So instead of writing something deep and dramatic, we wrote a comedy that all people could enjoy.”

The curtain rises at 7 p.m. for Friday and Saturday performances. Tickets are $7. A matinee originally planned for Saturday was canceled due to conflicts with a school sporting event.

For more information, call the school at 973-664-2200.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com