Every dog has its day. Now it’s time for the underdogs of the NHS Theatre Department to shine.

     The newly formed Underdog Theatre group performed the play Juvie under the direction of senior Rylan Deer November 13 and 14 in the NHS drama room. Juvie centers around 10 teens in a juvenile detention center, how they interact with each other and how the system affects them.

     Juvie marks the first show planned for Underdog Theatre by director Rylan Deer. Deer established the group to help out the titular underdogs.

     “We take students who don’t usually receive lead roles and give them lead roles so that we can break the vicious cycle of only regular [performers] getting lead roles,” Deer said. “[Underdog Theatre] started because I get really sick and tired of the same people being cast for the same parts over again, so I’m like, ‘I wanna do something about it,’ so I did.”

     Deer claims that the importance of Underdog Theatre lies in the development of each actor’s craft.

     “[The actors] are getting those skills that they don’t develop being a chorus or extra during a show…” Deer said. “If you don’t have those skills, you’re not going to understand how to be a lead, and you’re not going to get a lead role, and [the cycle] goes on and on and on.”

      Sophomore Ashley Bilansky loves the skills she has garnered in her time with the group.

     “I learned how to cooperate with others more and I learned how to give helpful advice to others,” Bilansky said. “I discovered how to characterize my role, act like my character would act and not how I would act.

     Throughout the rest of the school year, Deer says plenty of opportunities will present themselves to Bilansky and the rest of Underdog Theatre.

     “I hope to get six shows in before the end of the year,” Deer said. “Preparation for the next show will begin the Monday, November 16, after the current show.”

     In this show and the ones to come, actors in the troupe say they have not only bettered themselves in the pursuit of their craft; they have expressed themselves by doing what they love.

     “The musical wasn’t really my thing, and the spring play is too far away,” sophomore Jocelyn Drew said. “It’s another chance for me to get involved in theater because normally in schools there’s not that many theater opportunities.”