The freshmen/sophomore play, “Love/Sick” by John Cariani, consisted of nine, two-person scenes (called vignettes) that allowed students to gain experience in many of their first lead roles, and focused on the complexity of love.

“Love/Sick” premiered Thursday, Jan. 25, with other performances Friday, Jan. 26, and Saturday, Jan. 27 in the Studio Theater at LHS. According to theater director Mr. Christopher Thomas, tickets were basically sold out on Thursday and Friday. Saturday had a large audience as well, but even with the purchase of tickets at the box office, there were a few open seats.

“Love isn’t simple. It’s not easy, and this is a show that really explores that,” stated Mr. Thomas in an interview after the cast’s first performance. Some vignettes, like “Obsessive Impulse” and “Destiny,” presented the idea of love at first sight. “Where Was I?”, “Forgot” and “Uh-Oh” balanced humor with issues in relationships, like boredom or losing oneself; “Love/Sick” had many in the audience going from tears of laughter to hushed silence within seconds.

Each vignette, seemingly unrelated, took place on a Friday night between couples and juggled the pros and cons to love. Freshman Johnny Thames as the Singing Telegram was an audience favorite, with his delivery of the telegram from a man breaking up with his girlfriend.

“The Answer” was more somber, in which a married couple of nine years argued about having a baby. Jill, played by freshman Morgan Nostrand, expressed how much she wants a child. She frets and claims the opportunity is closed. Her husband, Kevin (freshman Vir Trivedi), countered that there will be other openings. She exploded: “Those are DOORS, Kevin!” and the audience leaned forward in their seats with laughter.

The rehearsal schedule for this year’s freshmen/sophomore performance differed from past years. This time around, the actors practiced their scenes one-on-one with Mr. Thomas or senior student directors, including Michael Graham and Philip Nauman. The directors were able to give deeper and more specific feedback with individuals this way.

“We could get more focused attention and help,” said sophomore Amanda Gourley, who played Abbie. There were also extra rehearsals outside of scheduled rehearsal time, where the actors would practice with their scene partner and get feedback from fellow cast members. The cast balanced one-on-one rehearsals with all-cast ones at least once a week.

The two-person scenes also were many students’ first shot at a lead role. “You really get to debut your talent,” expressed sophomore Kelsey Collins, who played Louise Overbee.

Mr. Thomas and the cast were pleased with Thursday night’s opening performance. “There was such a buzz coming off from the audience,” said sophomore Gracie Benson, who played Kelly.

Collins agreed that the energy fuelled the cast for their own scenes: “In the green room, you could hear the reactions of the audience, and you could really get a great vibe from [them].”

Mr. Thomas said an objective of his was to show the audience what a high-school play can be like. “I hope that, as a teacher, people walk away feeling really impressed with the dedication, effort and talent that our students put in and the level of performance that they are able to achieve,” he said.

The show had its fair share of light and heavy hearted moments, which are meant to reveal the truths of love, that it isn’t always perfect and stress-free. Mr. Thomas wanted viewers to “get to experience a love story and that feeling of joy or sometimes even pain.”