Final Exam Destination
It is final exam time—again!—at Standardized Testing Senior High School, and Christie is feeling less than solid about her English final. Her friends, Bobby – a snack-o-holic, and Val, her BFF, are much less concerned until Christie’s vision of the horrible outcome of the test (shown in a slow-motion action sequence which uses “unseen” black clad stagehands) causes her to flee, taking her friends with her. Unfortunately, that is just the beginning. Can you really escape your destiny, or as the creepy school custodian warns “Testiny”? Bobby and Val struggle with their own exams, and then the entire school is faced with another state mandated final exam. Will anyone survive? And who really controls our destiny? About 30 minutes.
Productions
Behind The Scenes
JAMES RAYFIELD talks about FINAL EXAM DESTINATION:
Q: What inspired you to write this play?
A: One of my guilty pleasures is watching those Final Destination films, and while I do not accept any sort of predestination, I enjoy those elaborate accidental death scenes where one small trigger sets off a chain reaction. I find their macabre humor amusing and wondered if that sort of scene could be duplicated on stage. The subject of testing was just a pun that occurred to me, but more recently with testing being such a controversial issue, I also wanted to shine a little light on the problem.
Q: What is your favorite part of line in the play? Why?
A: I love the slow motion accident scenes.
Q: Where did the characters come from? Are they based on people you know?
A: The characters were suggested by the many students I have taught. I’m afraid that Bobby’s constant snack craving is drawn from my own life.
Q: What did you try to achieve with this play?
A: I wanted to poke a little fun at the Final Destination movies and to tell everyone, especially young people, that we are in charge of our destiny.
Q: Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
A: I hope everyone who does my play has fun with the characters and the staging. Your imagination is what finally brings my scripts to life.