‘The Breakfast Club’ replayed by today’s youth
A high school theater production inspired by the iconic film
Recently, a theater production based on ‘The Breakfast Club’ was performed at my high school. Being involved in the process, I saw firsthand how the classic film shaped the play and influenced the players. While the plot strayed far from the original — not only were there twice as many characters, they were tasked with writing a song together instead of writing essays — The foundation is evidently that of John Hughes’ ultimate high school movie.
To start from the beginning, this play was the result of an initiative to give students more input in the production, which in previous years has been written by the drama teachers only. The idea to base the story on ‘The Breakfast Club’ stems from a collaboration between a couple of seniors (including myself) and the drama teachers. From there on out, the students who signed up to be in the play were tasked with creating their own characters and stereotypes that would participate in the story.
Curious is that the newly created stereotypes often matched John Hughes’ original design, proving that not much has changed in the eyes of the teenagers. There is a princess, an athlete, a rebel, and a basket case, and the interaction between them is equivalent to the interaction between the characters in the film. The princess and athlete are still the popular kids, their actions dictated by the expectations of their friends, while the rebel, basket case, and other nerds and weirdos care little for reputation.
The actors of the play did find a lot of pride in modernizing the story and updating the stereotypes to figures that you would see in the school halls today. In this way the traditional nerd was split into two new characters: the academic and the geek. Other noticeable additions were the class clown and the metal-head.
But perhaps the most distinct difference between our play and the iconic film is the strict, grumpy teacher from the original being replaced by an obnoxious, kindhearted, spiritual teacher. It was this same teacher (who actually teaches at our school, and is a sweetheart in real life) that inspired the change of assignment. Instead of writing an essay about themselves, this teacher asked the students in detention to write a song with each other, encouraging them to find their “most beautiful inner self”. I’m not sure what this says about our current educational system, and I’m not inclined to speculate, but it’s worth mentioning.
Though in the end, for all the things this play did differently, there is plenty that stayed the same. The actors (and writers) were often drawn back to the classic movie for inspiration, with iconic scenes like Bender’s imitation of daily life at Brain’s house versus his own completely replayed in our auditorium. The theme, setting, and characters of the film translate perfectly to today’s high school experience. John Hugh’s ultimate high school movie remains to this day an honest depiction of teenagers in their natural habitat.
It has been a privilege to adapt this timeless story and make it our own. The teenagers that participated in the play have grown to love the classic film, and have done their best to do the story justice. Everyone involved in the production will remember this 80' high school movie fondly.
All photos by Julianne Ottenbros
