This year’s fall play, Hero Worship, honors veterans with a powerful story.  The second showing of Hero Worship, will be this Friday for eight dollars at the door.

The play, written by Joe Calarco and directed by Nicole Wessel, is about a young woman, Samantha Barnes, who wants to build a memorial for her war-wounded father in the National Mall. She discovers within an evening that her former relationship with her father is gone by interacting with other veterans and families. The play explores what soldiers have and continue to go through.

Wessel states that she chose the play for high school students to perform. She picked the play because it honored veterans and said the play was “very appropriate for them.”

“We started at a basic level, and after 2 months they have come far, with no acting classes,” said Wessel on the students, “we have been a in a good place for a while. They have had it memorized for a couple weeks now.”

The level of commitment from the students was emphasized by Wessel, with students coming two to three days a week. Wessel said, “the dedication of the students on the project has built up the theater company,” and that “around 17 to 18 working on the play during showing, with the tech team included.”

Freshman Kristen Gui, who plays Barnes, has had a good start in the company, and is generally excited for the play.

In addition, junior Ashley O’Donnell plays Judith, a lady whose husband died in a war and had a rough childhood during WWII. She said, “you should honor veterans and be proud of your country” in regards to what she has learned, and is excited for people to see the play and “maybe learn something from it”.

And in his last year at Esperanza, senior Aaron Duan, who plays several additional roles, said that the whole process helped them, “learn about the history of wars and what it is like for soldiers to be in war” and the development of PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder. It also served to inspire him in creative writing.

“I want to join the Marines after high school and want to see about becoming an intelligence officer,” said Duan.