Indian Hills Middle School students didn’t just act in a play this spring; they wrote them too.

The school’s newly formed Drama Squad brought four original student-written scripts to the stage in “Night of Nonsense,” a production featuring short comedies and mysteries created by students and performed by their classmates.

The afterschool program, founded by school counselor Samantha Panunto, featured “The Intern (National Spy)” written by eighth-grader Isaac Swan, “Spiders” by seventh-grader Kaitlyn Moreton, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by eighth-grader Elise Huey and “A Room Full of Vipers” by eighth-grader Emma Bendixen.

Panunto said the idea for the program began in spring 2025 when Principal Shelley Karren announced funding for an afterschool drama program.

“My hand flew in the air; I was so excited,” she said. 

Four Indian Hills creative writing students wrote scripts for the newly formed Drama Squad to perform in the school’s “Night of Nonsense.” (Julie Slama/City Journals)

 Although students know Panunto as a counselor, theater has been a big part of her life. She earned her bachelor’s degree in musical theater performance and spent much of her 20s performing professionally.

“My hope was I would eventually find my way back to theater in some capacity,” she said.

Instead of producing a published play, Panunto decided to make the production student-written, avoiding expensive licensing fees while giving creative writing students a unique opportunity.

“I got this idea in my head of producing student-written scripts and how cool it would be for students who are passionate about writing to get to write a script and then we bring it to life in front of an audience,” she said.

Panunto partnered with creative writing teacher Gage Pulsifer, who incorporated script writing into his classes. Last fall, those students were told their scripts could potentially be selected for a production.

“A few months later, I had about 70 scripts to read because each students wrote two,” Panunto said. “It was a blast; can you imagine how hard I laughed with what they come up with?”

She narrowed it to four, resulting in the 45-minute “Night of Nonsense” production.

Isaac was surprised his script was selected.

“I thought if one of my scripts was going to be picked, it would be my first one,” he said. “I was surprised it was this one. Now that I’ve looked back at it, I realized this one made a better story.”

Isaac’s play follows two spies attempting to secure a package while an inexperienced intern accidentally saves the day.

“I like how my script snowballed from an assignment to a chosen script which is now a full-on 15-minute play being performed,” he said.

Kaitlyn wrote “Spiders,” after identifying most people’s common fear.

“I thought no one likes spiders, I should write about that,” she said. “Three of my friends got in my play; that’s fun.”

Her comedy centers around a family panicking over a spider in the house; with every adult refusing to help.

“The police end up scared and, on the couch,” Kaitlyn said. “The five-year-old daughter saves the day.”

Elise based her script loosely on “The Very Hunger Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. 

“I was thinking about ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and took off from there,” she said. “I started with the caterpillar, but I based it on the farmer and fruit. Now it’s this invasive caterpillar which comes and eats them. I'm curious to see how everyone interprets what I write.”

Emma’s murder-mystery, “A Room Full of Vipers,” involves a detective investigating the death of a disliked party guest.

“When I was writing it, I pictured adults performing in the 1900s,” she said. “I'm excited to see how it turns out.”

There also were student assistant directors for each of the plays: Gaby Edmonds, Callie Fellows, Colin Hansen and Jeann Parker. 

Panunto said the theater program’s success is creating a welcoming place for students.

“My first priority for the Drama Squad is not to create a Broadway-caliber product although this is a production they can be part of and proud of, but rather it’s creating a space for students to be themselves, to create and play and belong,” she said.

When an initial meeting was announced, Panunto expected 30 students. Instead, about 100 attended.

“Imagine my shock; there’s interest and a real need at our school for this Drama Squad program,” she said.

For the student-writers, seeing their names on posters and watching student-actors interpret their ideas has been both exciting and surreal.

“It’s been a good opportunity for both the writers and actors,” Elise said. 

Isaac said he’d like it to become a tradition: “It will be great for new creative writers next year to take on the challenge of writing a script and doing try to do their best so their scripts get chosen and see it in action.”