EVERETT, Wash., March 27, 2024—Archbishop Murphy High School’s Drama Program returns to the Everett PUD Theater this April 19 with its fourth feature-length film Beautiful Bombshells—a biopic that follows the careers of Hedy Lamarr, Shirley Temple and Judy Garland from the late 30’s to the 70’s. 

While these well-known actresses are known for their work in Hollywood, ‘Beautiful Bombshells’ tells the story of their contributions far beyond the silver screen, The AMHS Drama Department says.

“What most people don’t realize,” said film director Brent Stainer, “Is that these women had such a significant impact on our world. Hedy was an incredible inventor whose work is used by all of us daily, and Shirley was a US Diplomat and an outspoken supporter of breast cancer research.”

Filming began last September and features many Snohomish County localities.  Keith Curtis, the Music Supervisor, oversaw a team of composers that created an original score for the film.  Assistant Directors Emma Kormanyos and Emily Crawford coordinated the cast and crew of 50.

‘Beautiful Bombshells’ is the fourth original film produced by Archbishop Murphy High School.  The previous two, ‘Varsity Squad‘ and ‘Bridgehurst Asylum‘ have been picked up by national distributors and are available for streaming on Tubi or purchase at DVD retailers.

During the pandemic, many high school drama departments were forced to put their productions on hold, but Archbishop Murphy High School turned to feature films as a way to reach audiences remotely.

Typically, the Everett-based private school performs two productions a year – a musical in the spring and a dramatic play in the fall. When Director Brent Stainer was notified by the school, two years ago, the fall play could not be conducted as a live performance due to pandemic restrictions, he began brainstorming with Program Director Carrie Wright to find alternative options.

“We didn’t want a student to go through their senior year of high school and not have that theater experience — when you’re in the fine arts program that’s an important aspect, at least it was for me when I was in high school,” Stainer told the Lynnwood Times.

The two decided they’d take a stab at cinema. It was a way they could still engage the drama department while shooting under COVID-conscious guidelines and reaching an audience without packing an auditorium.

“We went into the film side of it reluctantly, quite honestly, but it was the only real option we could provide students that year and now I don’t think there’s any looking back,” Stainer said.

The first film AMHS’ fine arts Department made was Love at First Zoom, a hilarious and heartfelt story of a high school class trying to maintain normalcy during remote learning. The script was written by Julia Hawkins, Adriana Hilerio, and Brent Stainer utilizing social distancing to create a story told mostly through zoom call footage.

“Love at First Zoom was made out of the need to bring the arts back to AMHS because at the time musicals were kinda off the table because of the global pandemic. Mine and Brent’s solution was to create a film that could be made under COVID protocol. After that it became this big thing for students because it was such a unique opportunity,” Julia Hawkins, Co-writer of Love at First Zoom, told the Lynnwood Times.

Following the success of the department’s first film, they decided to return the following year to make Bridgehurst Asylum for the Sane, a thriller about a woman wrongly incarcerated in an insane asylum driven by control, manipulation, and greed.

The idea came to Stainer while working on a production of Sweeney Todd and becoming interested in women’s insane asylums during its asylum scene. To research the subject further, he picked up a copy of Women of the Asylum, a series of firsthand accounts written from 1840 to 1945 by women committed to insane asylums against their will, which eventually formed the basis of Bridgehurst’s story.

Last year the AMHS Drama Department returned, yet again, with its third film, Varsity Squad, which follows a group of undercover cops who, in an attempt to break a potential racketeering ring, use a “de-age”ing device to infiltrate a local high school disguised as teens. The film stars many returning actors from the department’s previous film including Steven Locke, Emily Crawford, and Emma Weller. Brent Steiner, AMHS Drama Instructor, also returns as writer and director.

“[Working on Varsity Squad] kind of ruined movies for me because now when I watch them I watch them from a director’s point of view, rather than a viewers, so it’s a little harder to get immersed in the story” said Steven Locke, lead actor in Varsity Squad.

The idea for the story came from Steiner’s upbringing in the 1980’s paired with his interest in cop shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine. During both the writing and directing process, Steiner tried to include students as much as possible, being first and foremost a student-led project, using many of their jokes and challenging his two student directors to put together a crew, run sound, and even direct entire scenes themselves. The original score, additionally, was entirely written and composed by students in the AMHS Music Department.

The original film, ‘Beautiful Bombshells’, will premiere at PUD Auditorium in Everett on April 19th at 7pm, with a second showing April 20th at 7pm. For tickets click here. To watch the film’s official trailer on YouTube click here