The curtains opened on Tuesday night as seniors in the drama department debuted their final play as Redwood students: Motherlode.

The play, titled “Lost and Found,” had its inaugural night April 8. The drama program is performing the play at the Motherlode competition in Sacramento next weekend before repeating performances here at Redwood from April 22-24.

The play delves into the topic of self –identity and change, stringing together short vignettes using actors to portray inanimate objects in order to make its point.

“It has its sad moments and its happy moments, but I wouldn’t categorize it as either a comedy or a tragedy,” said cast member Ricky Couto. “I’d like to think about it as being more thought-provoking.”

What separates this play from other Redwood plays is that all of the material is written by the cast members, who have to be seniors that have been in drama for all four years, albeit with some exceptions.

“Because it’s all a tight-knit group of seniors that have been working together for all of high school, there’s great chemistry when it comes to writing and performing together,” said cast member Maggie Doyle.

That great chemistry needs great directing, and that job falls in to Britt Block, one of the drama teachers.

“Everyone contributes to ideas, but it is all directed by Britt,” Couto said. “She’s not a driving force on what goes in the play or what comes out, but she helps point us in the right direction to find useful material for the play.”

According to Doyle, Block’s assistance is part of what helps Redwood do well and often win at the Motherlode competition, which is at Amador High School in Sutter Creek on April 25.

“We come up with a bunch of scenes over time, and [Block] has an amazing mind for weaving them together and creating a thematic plot line,” Doyle said.

The students started preparation for the play back in February, putting in a lot of time into creating the scenes.

“It’s this big crazy process that’s months and months of not just working on material to put in the play, but working together [on the material] with everyone else in the cast,” Couto said.

According to Doyle, the work manifests itself in a play that is very connectable for audience members.

“It’s definitely very emotional and different from any other show that we do, and people love how personal it is,” Doyle said. “And since it’s all student-written, it’s full of things from our lives that we as students can connect with.”

The play will continue at Redwood from April 22 through April 24.