Drama Club Escape Room a Success!

Eliza Lee, Writer
May 11, 2021

Last Week, the Drama Club hosted their annual Escape Room for charity, but this year the “room” looked a little different than it has in the past. Due to the pandemic, the event was a virtual one, but still a huge success.

The Escape Room raised funds for UNICEF’s COVID-19 relief efforts. This year’s theme linked to the Drama Club’s upcoming production of Cinderella. In past years, the room has been organized in the Black Box around Halloween, featuring themes such as alien invasion or the Twlight Zone.

Mr. Gamwell, an ILS English teacher who does virtual escape rooms for his students, assisted Drama Club Service Coordinator junior Amy Lam, who created the concept for the room.

Lam organized roles, built the escape room, filmed scenes and held multiple zoom meetings to complete the project. Tasks, such as creating and editing video clues for players to follow along, presented a new challenge to the club.

The Royal Courier interviewed Amy Lam to glean her perspective on the process.

“It was a very stressful process, but we all had a great time recording and editing all the videos! We had an amazing turn out of over 100 people and we raised over 500 dollars. That’s the most money we’ve ever raised from an escape room! All this money will hopefully make a big difference!”

The Drama Club Moderator, Mrs. Lianne Rodriguez, expressed her gratitude for Lam’s involvement in the event: “She is truly talented!”

Aside from a new type of escape room the Drama Club has never done before, there is also another first for this event. This year’s escape room is the first to directly coordinate with an ILS Drama production, particularly the spring musical, Cinderella. The players’ goal was to navigate through a dark forest to get Cinderella home before the clock strikes twelve.

The Drama Club has been hard at work to produce this year’s musical, and the dedication of actors and tech crew alike has been astounding. Cinderella’s performances are available for a limited in-person audience, as well as live-streaming for those watching at home, on May 13, 14, and 15th.

Due to Covid-19 and CDC Restrictions, in-person tickets will be available to a limit of 50 patrons per night. Ticket holders must pre-order their tickets from the ILS website and bring their ticket confirmations to the performance. All seats will be socially distanced for the performance. No concessions served at the show. Facial covering will be required at all times.

Get your tickets for Cinderella here!