A High School Turned ‘Alien’ Into A Student Play And It Looks Amazing

Max Fischer, the teen hero of Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, arguably spread himself too thin. He belonged to, and often lead, too many clubs, at the detriment of his grades. But there was one thing at which he was inarguably great: coming up with outside-the-box high school plays.

Surely the fictitious young man who put Serpico on the stage would approve of this real life theatrical feat: A New Jersey high school turned Alien into a play.

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This comes from The A.V Club, who caught it from one Paul Owens, who was suitably wowed by not only the fact that a school turned Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic into a stage production, but that they did so with shocking aplomb. The rendition, put on by the North Bergen High School Drama Club, looks incredible, from the large sets to a very, very good Xenomorph. Check out their version of the famed facehugger scene, which they pulled off with disquieting minimalism.

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You can marvel over photos here, which are even more astounding when you learn that everything was made out of recycled material. It’s worth noting that the North Bergen High School Drama Club take on Alien appears to give audiences more and better glimpses of the alien itself, which in the original was often hidden in shadows, only seen in full a mere handful of times. Here’s their take on what appears to be the climactic showdown between Ripley and her slimy predator.

A stage version of the original Alien, released in 1979, isn’t too far-fetched: It’s a relatively slow and minimalist production, with only seven characters, not including the Xenomoprh and Ripley’s cat. Now some resourceful high school should tackle Predator!

(Via The A.V. Club)