The new drama club The Understudies, is a social group designed to bring performers and those who appreciate the arts under one moniker.

The club will be hosting its “Milk Shakespeare” fundraising event in Contra Costa College’s Fireside Hall on Thursday, where members will perform the play “Doing Thy Will,” directed by drama professor Angelina LaBarre. The 45-minute play is a collection of sonnets and scenes from various Shakespeare productions.

Alongside the show, The Understudies will be selling ice cream milkshakes for $3 each.

Club President Oz Sobol said that the club’s Shakespeare event is the jumping-off point for bigger things hosted by the club. “We’re a brand  new club, so we’re still in our building stages,” Sobol said. “We have a lot of growing pains, but we’ll get through them.”

The club will also have a booth set up for the Super Saturday event this weekend to provide information about drama classes and the club to aspiring college students.

Poehnelt said it’s important to have a drama club at the college to combat the declining presence of the arts in the area.

“I feel like the performing arts are dying in our community. We don’t even see much of it in high schools anymore,” he said.

Poehnelt said that theater is pivotal, because since the beginning of time acting has been the predominant form of story telling.

“I think that theater is directly tied with telling the story of society,” he said. “Our society is full of stories and the theater is the best place to tell them. Stories from the stage are key to understanding modern and historical society.”

Drama department Chairperson Carlos-Manuel Chavarria said the club’s main challenge is getting members on the same schedule to meet.

“Most of the people involved in the club are also involved in department productions,” Chavarria said. “It’s hard to get everyone together to conduct our meetings.”

A majority of club members are also involved in the upcoming musical “Godspell,” presented by CCC’s drama department. The show will run in the John and Jean Knox Center for the Performing Arts from April 27 to April 30, then again May 4 to 6. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Students interested in joining the club can email questions to [email protected].