Student actors reflect on Wicked and Whimsical

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Photo Credit: Abby Stern

Junior girls pose in costume while getting ready for the show. From left to right, top row: Sofia Nolfo, Caitlin O’Brien, Madi Willoughby, Caroline Goldenberg, and Sofia Nolfo. From left to right, bottom row: Abby Stern, Caroline Torpey, and Dylaney Sabino.

by Abby Stern, Staff Writer

The Theatre Company put on its spring play, Wicked and Whimsical, on April 4, 5, and 6.  There were four performances, each at 7 p.m. and one matinee on April 6 at 2 p.m.  

The performance was made up of six short plays, all taken from the same larger play called The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon, written by Don Zolidis.  The play takes many of the Brothers Grimm’s classic fairy tales and puts a creative, sarcastic spin on them.  The fairy tales are written together as one long story, which is what the Brothers Grimm originally intended.

The six scenes chosen by the Theatre Company to be performed were “Rapunzel,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “The Talking Fish,” “Snow White,” “The Devil’s Grandmother,” and “Cinderella.”  Each student was cast in only one show, so each of these scenes has an entirely new set of actors. Each scene features approximately four to eight students.

Students have enjoyed working on these scenes for a variety of reasons.  For example, they loved that they can put their time and effort into perfecting one short play, and they had a lot of fun working in a smaller cast.

“I really like being able to work with a smaller cast.  It helps you build better friendships, and it’s so nice to have such a tight community,” senior Andrew Bober said.  

Junior Caroline Torpey enjoyed working in a smaller cast as well.  

“I like that you get introduced to new people and get close to them in your small cast,” she said.

Another aspect of Wicked and Whimsical that makes the show special is that all the scenes are directed by students.  Students have directed scenes in the spring show for the past few years, and this year, six members of the class of 2019 have taken on this extremely important role.  Many of the actors have loved working closely with their senior director.

“It’s nice that you get to work one on one with your director,” junior Jess Rosen said.

Fellow junior Sofia Nolfo felt similarly about working with student directors.  

“I like getting to work with a student director.  I think it’s really interesting to see how hard all the students work to get the shows together, and I think the end result is so impressive given that they are all high school students directing it,” she said.