The Plains High School Drama Club had the opportunity to show their fellow students what got them an award at the Montana State Thespian Festival recently, but they also had the chance to demonstrate some of the problems teenagers face on a day-to-day basis.

Eleven students from the drama club took second place for the death scene in their rendition of "How to Make an American Teenage Quilt," a play by Tom Akers, at the festival at the University of Montana in Missoula Feb. 1-2.

Plains was one of 23 schools and 509 students to take part in the competition. First place went to Great Falls High School, which put on "Down Came the Rain." The Great Falls students will compete in the national thespian contest in Nebraska. Plains has been attending the thespian festival for more than 14 years, but this was the first time they had won anything.

"It was a tough competition," said Wendy Starkey, a Plains teacher, who also runs the drama club.

The students put on the 30-minute play at Plains High School gymnasium Friday for just over 200 students. "It's rare to have an assembly for a drama project," said Principal Larry McDonald.

The principal said they seldom get to have plays at the school because of space and time. For "How to Make an American Teenage Quilt," the play didn't require a lot of stage sets. The drama club puts on two plays a year, but uses the Sanders County Fairgrounds pavilion.

"I thought it was something the students could identify with," said McDonald, who's been the principal at Plains for over 13 years. "It was quite impressive," added McDonald, who has two teenage girls and one teenage boy. Two are still in high school.

The play had eight segments, all which touched on issues that teenagers confront today, said Starkey.

She noted also that the actors demonstrated the life of a typical teen, illustrating a number of issues, such as sex, drugs, alcohol, suicide, along with parents listening, being able to talk with someone about problems, and peer pressure.

"This is probably the best ensemble that Plains has ever put together," said Starkey, who added that she was proud of her student actors.

"They tackled very difficult issues with grace and maturity," she said.

The three boys and eight girls worked together on the play for about a month, in addition to individually memorizing their lines, said Starkey.

The Plains actors included: Tara Baker, Leah Swedberg, Sheila Nyomo, Valin Heward, Drew Mack, Abbie Starkey, Christian Zigler, Christian Beech, Taylor Boles, Kenny Griggs, and Bethany Mack, and was directed by Wendy Starkey and Terri Henry.