By Bruce Karnick

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“How long does one blink take? According to UCL research the duration of a blink is on average 100 to 150 milliseconds long,” Symone Revlon explains.

Revlon, the fictional co-host of the Hastings High School Drama Department’s presentation of ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ played by Eliana Lawrence, along with Renna Maybelline, played by Jenna Norgaard, introduced viewers to the various skits performed in the nearly 50-minute-long production.

The students that participated did all the filming and editing with the help of Director Janelle Ranek. Ranek introduced viewers to the video on the Hastings High School Drama Club’s Facebook page with the following.

‘In the Blink of an Eye’—an ensemble created film produced under covid-prevention guidelines. Tune in to see what can happen in the blink of an eye!

Featuring: Eliana Lawrence, Jenna Norgaard, Joseph Borash, Nathan Schindler, Dakota Zwinger, Mariam Ben Said, Adam Iverson. Directed by Janelle Ranek “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.” ~ Hellen Keller “Life is quicker than a blink of an eye.” Jimi Hendrix It began with this ensemble of actors having to tell a story based on a theme and share it with the group via zoom. From there we began telling more and more stories, creating characters, plots, themes and began putting puzzle pieces together without having any notion as to what the final picture would look like. Our goal was to create a film, the tricky part was, we could never meet in person. The solution was for each actor to shoot and edited their own scenes;, the result is this movie.

This has been truly an amazing collaborative process under unimaginable circumstances in our world and this fabulous group, more than rose to the challenge. The stories range from the suspenseful, the bizarre to heartbreaking, sweet and terrifying. Each tale a lesson as to how life can change, in the blink of an eye.

I am crazy proud of this ensemble, their creativity, their resilience, their talent and genius, it’s an honor to work with them. Please enjoy!

~ Janelle Ranek – Director After the performance, fans sang the praises of the kids acting, the wardrobe, makeup and of course videography. The clear challenge for something like this is staying in character and keeping viewers in the scene while walking through the ‘hotel lobby to the elevator’ which was really the dining room and kitchen. The actors did not seem phased whatsoever to be performing in their homes. The question is, will there be any outtake reel created for the time when an actor’s cat or dog or sibling enters the scene unknowingly.

If you want to see the creativity of our local youth, head on over to the Hastings High School Drama Club Facebook page, grab a bag of popcorn and your favorite beverage, sit back and enjoy, ‘In the Blink of an Eye’.