Anti-bullying movie debuts Feb. 28 at SPAC in Sedona
Mingus Union High School theater director James Ball was excited when local filmmakers Shondra Jepperson and Dev Ross cast him as the unlikely character of an abusive father to one of his then-students, Sarah Orbe, back when their movie project “High School Detention the Musical” began just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of times we spend so much time teaching and coaching them, but then to actually be on the other side and work with that student in a professional setting, in a scene, was kind of cool to have that, because that doesn’t happen very often,” Ball said. “I think it only worked because we’ve had four years of history working together and felt comfortable enough that we’re able to play off of that and create a really dramatic and intense moment that served the story well.”
Ball has been friends with the filmmakers for a while, he said. He was excited to get involved however he could.
“He’s kind of a big teddy bear,” said Amy Waddell, the film’s director. “His mouth naturally falls into something that looks like a smile, and yet he had to play this big, scary, abusive father, and so to kind of get him to that point, you had to push him even beyond what you might think an actor would need to do. And he just completely nailed it.”
Out of the 10-person cast for “High School Detention the Musical,” formerly known as “WEirD Detention,” three were students from MUHS’ A Troupe of Ridiculous Thespians.
Several other students and alumni were involved as production assistants.
The student actors included Orbe, who graduated in 2025, Lazor Lanson, who graduated in 2024, and Ajna Masters, a current junior.
The story follows a trio of “misguided teens,” according to the movie synopsis, going to detention, where they’re met with three singing divas who help them learn to better resolve conflicts.
Orbe was “very dropped-in as an actor and Lanson, [his character, Jace], is fun and kind of a pain,” Waddell said. “He’s playing that role, and he does a really good job with that, but he also has a nice character arc that he nails. And then Ajna is more the quiet, invisible one who finds her voice. They did a great job.”
At its core, the movie is an anti-bullying film with goals to keep conversations respectful. The filmmakers hope to have it screened across the country’s classrooms.
Ross said the target audience is tweens and early teens.
“And families,” she said, “because we want to create dialog, right? When we say this to adults, we tell them about the concept, they go, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of adults that can use this, too.’”
“I started going to Shondra’s back in 2024 and that was about when she introduced the script to me, and I read for Amina for the first time,” said Masters, who was cast toward the end of her freshman year.
Jepperson and the other producer for the project, Ross, organized a few fundraisers for set pieces and rehearsal space at the same time. It was filmed over the summer 2025 inside Sedona Charter School.
“This was my first ever major role,” Masters said. “I thought that it was only going to go till our fundraisers, and that was it, and then I didn’t think I was going to be in the movie.
“Then one day after school, I was walking to Walmart, and she [Jepperson] calls me, and she’s like, ‘we’re going to film the movie, and we want you to be Amina.’ And I was like, ‘there’s no way.’”
Debuting at SIFF
The 40-minute film will debut during the Sedona International Film Festival on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 4 p.m. in the Sedona Performing Arts Center with Q&A to follow.
Composer Jepperson said the soundtrack for the film will be available on Spotify, iMusic and other streaming channels on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
MUHS senior Lyra Earles, one of the production assistants for the project, said she learned a lot, especially doing actors’ hair and makeup for the screen.
“I went home, and I was talking to my mom, and she was like, ‘Wait, so what are you doing,’” she said. “‘hair and makeup.’ She was like, ‘Do you know how to do that?’ And I’m like —” she shrugged.
Originally, the film was meant to be a stage production.
“There was giant puppets instead of divas,” Ball said. “It was a different adaptation.”
The film was about 90 minutes long before Ball, Jepperson and Ross had conversations about cutting it down to a shorter film to be played in classrooms, especially younger classes, which is the filmmakers’ goal.
“From a teaching perspective, I can prep it the day before, we can watch it, have a quick wrap up, and then discuss the next day,” Ball said.
“Then suddenly, I have a nice three-day lesson that I can expand and more, and we can take [what] they talk about, of conflict resolution, and use that as a tool to plan.”
Waddell said Jepperson and Ross were very receptive to cuts and changes, which is hard for writers so close to the story, she said.
“As we were editing, I would find things that could just go away, because very often, once you have the visuals, you don’t need all these words,” she said. “I would just call Dev and say, ‘I think we can just cut this whole chunk,’ and she’d be like, ‘yeah, go for it.’ She was very open.”
Ross and Jepperson met after Ross was cast in a play alongside Jepperson’s husband, Tom. They quickly became good friends.
“We started coaching kids together, and developed Sedona Youth Theatre and a whole bunch of other things,” Jepperson said. “Then later we started writing together.”
She said she and Ross ran Sedona Youth Theatre out of Community Library Sedona for 16 summers.
SIFF Executive Director Patrick Schweiss said he saw the film doing a lot for a lot of communities, including Sedona and the Verde Valley.
“If we can even save one kid from either being bullied or being the bully through this film, it will have been a success,” he said. “I think this has the potential to help hundreds, thousands, if not more, students who are dealing with this on a daily basis.”
“While I think kids, especially my age, since we’re seniors, will find it kind of cringe, because it’s a musical,” said MUHS senior Evelyn Bouse, one of the PAs. “I think, especially for those middle school audiences, I think it will be really effective. All of these characters just have this quality that just draws you in almost immediately.”
Earles said she’s already begun using some of the conflict resolution and conversation tactics in the film in her daily life.
“Making sure the person you’re talking to feels seen and heard in a positive manner, while still getting your point across in a healthy way,” she said.
J.C. Lawler, a swing dancer and actor based in Phoenix and older brother of current MUHS student Jayce Lawler, graduated from MUHS in 2012.
When he saw the movie was being made near his hometown, he thought he’d try to be a part of it.
“It was very humbling at points, working with directors and the director of photography and just making sure that we got the shots that we needed, but we also needed to make sure that the space was prepped,” J.C. Lawler said. “We basically had to build a black box theater inside of a school.”
Lawler said he very much enjoyed coming back and working with Ball, Ross and Jepperson, who he’s worked with before, and some new people like the current MUHS students.
Masters said her favorite part was filming a scene with her character’s dad.
“In the movie, Amina has a really heartfelt, touching moment with her dad, and my actual dad played him,” Masters said. “At the time, due to certain circumstances, it was, I feel, like a really healing moment, but also a really sweet moment as well. Getting to work with my dad in that sense, given he’s been acting for a really long time as well.”
