At the end of this school year, Kim Sulzner, director of theater arts, is retiring after three and a half decades of teaching. “Bad Seed” which ended last week, was Sulzner’s last play of her teaching career.
“It’s kind of time, I’ve been doing it for 35 years, there’s really no benefit for me staying any longer, so that’s kind of weird to know that it’s just kind of time for me to go, but I will miss the students and the activities and the interactions,” Sulzner said.
This play wasn’t new to Sulzner, she has had multiple experiences with “Bad Seed” going back to high school. Since then she has had opportunities to further her knowledge of the play by directing and being on crew. It came full circle, even though Sulzner didn’t intend to have this be the last play she directed, it just happened that way.
“I was in it in high school, then I did crew for it when I was in college, and then I directed it at howell high, and I directed it[at north], which was the very first play I did when I came to north, so it was my first and my last,” Sulzner said.
“Bad Seed” is based on a murder of a kid that this little girl named Rhoda goes to school with and she is the top suspect for the murder. Rhoda’s mother thinks that she did it, but everyone and their families think that Rhoda couldn’t have done it because she is too innocent and perfect. There are a lot of facts that come out of the darkness throughout the play, and it really makes the characters question things that they never thought of before.
“It kind of explores the ideas of nurturing nature,” junior Sky Crets said. “Like, can you inherit things from your family?”
Sulzner has greatly impacted her students and given them advice that they will take with them in and out of school.
“A big one is just to be yourself specifically at auditions,” Crets said. “Her big thing was always making sure you’re showing the judges what you can do. Don’t always shoot too hard for a specific role or specific thing, and just be yourself and you’ll get what’s good for you.”
