“The whole concept is that you go into a trailer and watch a designated character go through the process of addiction,” says junior Ethan Jourdan about the new Addicted film. The film stems from the original Addicted  play directed by school psychologist Christle Henzel, who is also the director and writer of the CORE project.

      Jourdan says that “at the end, you are given the opportunity to go back and make different choices throughout the storyth,” and he adds the choices can “drastically change the outcome.”

     Jourdan says that Henzel “is approaching the subject as being really intuitive and new.” He believes that Henzel is “showing teens how saying no is not as hard as it seems in a new light.” Jourdan states he’s “very grateful to be a part of the project.”

      Agreeing with Jourdan, senior Elle Saulsbury says,“We are all very excited and grateful to be part of the show this year.” When Saulsbury found out about the show she said, “Henzel came to [her] Drama 3 class and asked if anyone wanted to audition” for the film. Saulsbury auditioned with the Cara monologue [Henzel] provided.” Saulsbury said she also read “some lines from Jennifer as well.” Jennifer and Cara are two of three main characters set to star in the film.  Cara, the lead in the prescription pills film, is set to be played by one of the original actresses from the first Addicted show.

      After that Henzel asked Salsbury to “officially audition” at Henzel’s office in Bel Air. After the audition, Saulsbury was informed that she “got the role of Jennifer, the lead in the short film.” The cannabis film is one of three stories, along with a story of an alcoholic and a girl addicted to painkillers.

     Henzel chose to “travel to different middle schools instead of a play,” says Saulsbury due to Covid restrictions. By travelling around middle schools and filming, the production crew hopes to try and “abide to Covid restrictions without having restrictions in the content or acting.” Saulsbury says “being able to be the first ones to test out this new method may come hand in hand with some pressure.”

     According to Saulsbury, the audience should “expect to understand how different substances can affect your life negatively, even if you thought you knew what you were doing.” Saulsbury thinks the show will “impact viewers” due  to “the content of the films,” which have “very heartbreaking and eye opening scenes that emphasize the topic.”

     NH drama teacher Mrs. Nancy Green says that she is “so grateful” to Henzel for “bringing Drama 3 on board for another one of her amazing theatre projects- this time the movies!” Green is especially proud to “see how well [the] drama students did auditioning for an outside director, for a professional and meaningful project.” 

      Green’s drama class was able to “do the first table reads of the scripts,” meaning the students, “got to have a say in the final product and helped Henzel in places where dialogue would sound more authentically ‘teen’.”