Alien Movie Goes Back-to-School in High School Play

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Alien-Themed High School Play Leaves Audience on Edge of Their Seats

Students at North Bergen High School show Ridley Scott and James Cameron how Alien should really be done.

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Arsenic and Old Lace and Our Town are some of the most popular plays performed in high schools, but could the adaptation of the 1979 film Alien be the new Crucible?

Alien: The Play was performed on March 19th & 22nd by the North Bergen High School Drama Club in North Bergen, New Jersey. If you thought you were going to see a cutesy play performed in a classroom featuring kids running away from a guy with a bucket on his head, guess again. Audiences were given a Broadway-like production by the members of the NBHS Drama Club, who have been working on the production since September 2018.

Photos from the production were originally posted on Reddit by Emo_Kid23, a senior at North Bergen High School who was also kind enough to respond to the questions of eager Redditors. In the post, Emo_Kid23 went on to say the school didn't fund any part of the production, and the play was a result of fundraising. The amazing sets that featured such elements as opening and closing airlock doors and the iconic Space Jockey set were all constructed from recyclables. The set design was crafted by art teacher Steven Defendini.

How faithful is the production? Only the climactic scene of Dallas in the Alien chamber didn't make it into the performance. The drama club took the performance one step further by having the Xenomorph alien walk into the audience to terrify a number of viewers. Additional short scenes were added to allow for curtain transitions. A total of fifty people in total worked on the production.

If you're eager to see the entire video recording of the performance, you'll have to wait. Currently, the class teacher is editing footage from four different cameras and will need until May to complete the film. Perhaps James Cameron or Ridley Scott can pitch in to lend a hand. The trailer can be found on the YouTube channel of Drama teacher Perfecto Cuervo.

For years, Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9 and Elysium, was trying to continue the Alien franchise with the return of actors Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn. The film was placed on hold by the studio in lieu of Ridley Scott's addition to the franchise with Alien: Covenant. Blomkamp's version of Alien is "totally dead" and he is currently working on a sequel to RoboCop. RoboCop Returns would be a direct sequel to the original film by Paul Verhoeven, with Blomkamp interested in having Peter Weller return to his iconic role.

The Alien franchise is the property of 21st Century Fox, but in given the recent acquisition by Disney, time will tell what the next steps are with any related productions. However, if Disney is looking to adapt its newest property into a theatrical piece, it knows exactly who to turn to for help.

(via NJ.com)