VHS presents O’Neill’s play ‘The Hairy Ape’

Vermillion High School students will be presenting the one-act play "The Hairy Ape" by Eugene O'Neill on Friday, Jan. 20 at the Vermillion High School Performing Arts Center. This expressionist drama, written in the 1920s, explores a common laborer's quest to find his place in an industrial society. "Yank," the play's protagonist, discovers his pride shattered when Mildred, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy steel mogul, declares his behavior as uncouth and animalistic.

The cast of the one-act play, “The Hairy Ape,” rehearses a scene on the stage of the Vermillion High School Performing Arts Center Tuesday afternoon. VHS students will present  the play Friday. (Photo by David Lias)

This 45-minute production will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on the Vermillion High School stage. It is free and open to the public. After Friday's performance, the students will take the show on the road to the Region IA, South Dakota High School Activities Association's One-Act Play contest held at Yankton's Mount Marty College theatre on Tuesday, January 24 at 9 a.m.