The Voice » Theater

Dancing Queen: Jackie Lee

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:49:06 +0000

The adrenaline rushes, center stage spotlights, makeup, spandex and sequins galore. The fabulous life of a dancer sounds so glamorous and girlie to the outside eye. But the life of a Presentation High School Dance Team dancer is not just about the sparkles and sunshine. Imagine practicing for hours on end, stretching and pushing your body to run choreography over and over almost every day all year round, including summer. These girls are amazingly tough but still remain outstandingly graceful and poised.

Though every dancer on the team contributes something unique, appreciated and valued, one dancer in particular has awed audiences across the United States. Like a typical Pres girl, she watches One Tree Hill, eats chicken nuggets, and loves her photography class. But unlike most of us, Jackie Lee been dancing for nearly 14 years and has won a numerous amount of prestigious dance titles.

Recently she’s claimed the title of Miss Dance of California 2009 and this year alone won first place at all USA regional competitions for her solo, fifth place for her solo at the Contest of Champion Nationals in Florida, and placed top 10 in solos at USA Nationals in Los Angeles.

She says, “Whenever I perform, I’m always nervous but really happy to just be on stage. Dancing and performing is my outlet. My favorite part about dancing is going on stage and just forgetting about everything. Whenever I dance, I completely forget about all my problems and fears.”

But unlike an attention seeking diva, Jackie remains true to her Pres team. When asked how she would describe Pres dance she simply stated “Fun. Family. Dedication.”

“My favorite part about dancing at Pres is being a part of a family. The dance team is so tight knit and close, it makes dancing that much more special and enjoyable.”

As a dedicated part of the team, she works hard as part of the captain team with seniors Courtney Quinn, Erin Kelm, and Nicole Olerich. “We’ve grown so close over the past few months and I know I can go to them for anything.”

Jackie has decided to continue dancing after high school. “I’m hoping to go to a college that has a really good competitive dance team, but if that doesn’t happen I’ll probably just take classes at a studio wherever I am,” Lee said, ”I do plan to try out for So You Think You Can Dance next year when I’m 18 though!”

So girls, this isn’t the last you’ll see of this stellar senior. Watch out for Jackie Lee because one day you just might see her name in the spotlight!

Our Town

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:41:37 +0000

Inside the Pres theater, our own thespian community has been hard at work polishing acting and memorizing lines. And few have more to do than the play’s female lead, junior Sophie Wood. As a member of ITS (the International Thespian Society), Wood has done a few minor productions and has been an active member of Speech and Debate. Wood’s event in Speech is DI, or Dramatic Interpretation (basically the acting out of a scene from a play, book, or movie). But this is her first main role in such a big production on the Pres stage. After being encouraged by her friend, junior Jennifer O’Brien, who plays the part of Wood’s mother in the play, Wood decided to try out.

“I suppose it was on a whim,” Wood admits, “but many of my friends are in theatre and love it so I thought I should try as well. I guess sometimes peer pressure can be good after all!” When asked how she felt when she auditioned, Wood laughs and says she was terrified.

“I was so nervous because I’d never really auditioned for anything before– I had to keep asking the people around me what to do next! It was scarier than my rounds in Speech and Debate, because there you get feedback on little sheets of paper. But when you audition in theatre, you put yourself out there for personal rejection.”

In her audition monologue, Wood used a piece from her DI—Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay Abaire. In the scene, a husband and wife struggle to deal with the loss of their only son, Danny, from a car accident. In her DI, Wood portrays different characters with a change in voice or position.

However, she had no real pick in mind when it came to the characters in Our Town. “I was really open to anything—I thought for certain I would get a small part and I was totally fine with that. I was completely shocked when I found out that I was cast as Emily Webb!” When asked how she gets into character, Wood said that it is fairly easy to portray Emily Webb due to the energy of the rest of the cast, despite the fact that Emily herself is quite different than Wood.

But as any theatre member will tell you, the casting is only the beginning of an arduous but ultimately rewarding process. Rehearsals started in January and progressed from two hours to three and a half hour rehearsals during “hell week,” or the week right before the opening of the show. As an honors student, Sophie has to be careful to balance her lines and her schoolwork. She is thankful for collaborations, saying that they are what enable her to really get most of her work done. Memorizing her lines does not pose too much of a problem, for at rehearsals the cast runs through everything with scripts before they go “off book” so that the actors can get used to the feeling and context of the lines before they are forced to fully memorize them.

Blocking, or the way actors move around the stage, is done in much the same way. When Mr. Houle gives out blocking instructions during rehearsals, Wood makes sure to write them in the margins of her script so that when she’s going over her lines later the blocking will stand out. “It has all been a bit stressful,” Wood says, “but I think it’s definitely worth it.” The most worthwhile part of the whole Pres theatre experience for Wood has been working with the cast of Our Town. “It’s so much fun to work alongside with the people you go to school with in a totally different medium!” Wood says.

In regards to the male cast members, Wood admits that, while it is odd to see male specimens on campus who aren’t teachers, after a while she got used to their presence. After all, much like everyone else, the boys are just teenagers who love theater and who have joined the cast to demonstrate that. But unlike many plays, Our Town offers the cast members little time back stage and out of sight.

“In the show,” Wood says, “we actually have galleries onstage where cast members not performing at the moment sit down. Thus there is not a lot of ‘backstage’ time. Basically, while in the galleries we sit there and remain quiet. When backstage, (for a few seconds before your cue), I usually have quick conversations with the techies who I loveth so!”

When asked if there was anything that she didn’t “loveth” about the theater, Wood laughs. “The yellow seats,” she says. “When you are onstage the yellow of the seats really jumps out at you and kinda cause you to break the fourth wall by staring at the seats. I think that’s the real reason why everyone should come watch the show—if all the seats are full, none of the actors will have to look at the yellow backs of the seats!”

Wood readily admits, however, that this should be only one of the reasons to watch Our Town. She finds the play itself very interesting, as Our Town not only centers on the concept of daily life, but constantly reinforces the fact that the play itself it is nothing more than a pantomime. The lack of anything but the most rudimentary props constantly reminds the audience that what they are seeing is nothing more than actors on a stage, acting, not living, in a town that mimics reality, but is not in itself real.

However, the nerves that actors experience opening night is often all too real. While she admits to having been nervous before the start of the first show, Wood said that once she was performing everything came naturally. “Once you’re on stage and you start doing everything that you’ve rehearsed a thousand times, it’s no longer terrifying,” she said. “It’s when you’re offstage that the nerves come back to you!” Though the actors practice numerous times in the empty theater, it is an entirely different feeling to perform to a full audience. “It’s different than rehearsal.” Wood said. “You need to pause of laughter, especially in times you wouldn’t expect to be funny; that can throw you off sometimes. And everyone performs better—they bring more to the show when there’s an audience. There’s just a whole other vibe coming from the cast, and that pushes everyone involved to do better.” Wood says that one of the most important things about the play is that it “makes you realize that we take everything for granted. We never realize what it is we have till it’s gone. And all of that might seem to be cliché, but it really does ring true.” So go see Our Town before it’s too late! The play runs till March 13^th and tickets are selling fast, so go to the pres website and buy yours today.

A ladder as a window and a cupped hand for a glass—minimalistic set pieces to tell the bare bones of an American classic. Our Town, a play by Thornton Wilder, chronicles the life of its two central characters, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, within the confines of a stage and the merit of its actors. With few props and little scenery, the actors are left for themselves to flesh out the story of growing up, falling in love and striving to understand the importance of a life pursued. As the stage managers narrate the story of the children who would grow up to be sweethearts and start a family of their own, they manage to offer subtle glimpses along the way into the lives of the small community nestled in the fictional New England town of Grover’s Corners.

Godspell Wows the Crowds

adviser — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:58:18 +0000

This past weekend, Pres students sat in the Valenzuela theater waiting for their teachers to do something they normally wouldn’t do in a classroom—dance, sing, and act.

And did they. Performing Godspell—which was originally produced in 1970 by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak—meant that our already-busy Pres teachers had to commit to weeks of rehearsals to learn songs, choreography and lots of lines. For some teachers, who had never appeared on stage before, simply learning the basics of how to enter and exit the stage were a challenge in themselves.

Mrs. Perryman, for example, “tried very hard not to fall.” But, she said, even if she were to fall and her costume malfunction, she knew that it wouldn’t trouble her. “I was doing this for the right reasons,” she said. “To raise funds for TADA and celebrate the Gospel—there would be no way to fail.”

The production, which ran for two weekends, served as a fundraiser for TADA, the booster group for Presentation’s theater program. According to Jim Houle, performing arts director, the performances raised approximately $15,100.

The musical is structured as a series of parables from the Bible, primarily the Books of Matthew and Luke. Mr. Cozort, who played Jesus Christ, said the challenge for him was how to symbolically portray Jesus since, “I’m not in a robe. I don’t have a beard.”

But he must have done his job well because people have been singing his praises ever since the show closed. “Mr. Cozort has jumped to the top of my ‘Most-amazing-people-I-know list,’” said Mr. Houle. “Of course, his talent was evident to all who witnessed his live performance, but the countless hours of work he did in preparation for the show went unnoticed by the audience, who only saw his confident, relaxed, seemingly effortless portrayal of Jesus.”

Ms. Hetherington, who was in the cast thought Mr. Cozort did a breathtaking performance as Jesus. “Every time we practiced it, I was touched anew—often to the point of tears. Mr. Cozort, I think, did an amazing job of conveying Jesus’ pain and anguish.”

Mr. Buell played John the Baptist and Judas. As Judas, Mr. Buell crucified Jesus, a scene that he called his favorite. He appeared onstage with a red bandana as if he were a motorcyclist. With a bag across his shoulders and an evil smirk across his face, he captured Mr. Cozort from behind. The boxes that were used as a stairway to the cross where Mr. Cozort was crucified symbolized Mt. Calvary and the Stations of the Cross in the Bible.

Dancing and singing with her colorful costume from the 1970s , Mrs. Perryman described her experience as “Amazing. It was exactly like the play. In Tower of Babel, we were all promoting our own idea of how the world should be, but then Jesus came and we all realized that if we didn’t work together, we couldn’t build anything worth having.”

Along with Mr. Buell from the religion department, Ms. Hetherington played a follower of Jesus in Godspell. “This was my first theater experience and it was absolutely marvelous.” Not only did Ms. Hetherington have a spectacular experience, but it helped her understand the Gospel as well. She said, “To listen to and act out this message night after night led me to a much deeper appreciation of what Christianity is all about.”

This play also marked the first time on stage for science teacher Mrs. Rahmig. “I don’t break out in song and dance during biology class very often!” she said. “I struggled to learn all of the dance moves in the songs, but by the time I finally got them down, I was having a great time performing them.” It did, indeed look like the cast was having a splendid time dancing and singing together.

The musical was embedded with inside Pres jokes, current day references and full-hearted acting by the actors and actresses. In one scene, Mr. Cozort and Mr. Buell voice the characters of Star Wars. In an interview after the play, Mr. Cozort admitted with a big smile on his face, that he thought Mr. Houle purposely put in that scene for him.

The choreography of this musical is both comical, yet genius. Of course it took practice to perfect. According to Mr. Buell, “We videotaped Sara [Freitas] doing the choreography and put it on YouTube. And at night, when everyone had left, I’d put it on my projector, move some desks out of the way and memorize the choreography.”

Right after the Star Wars scene, the theater turned into a disco. With an actual disco ball flashing, and teachers dancing, the “Light of the World” dance scene gave light to Jesus as the Savior. According to techie Jocelyn San Luis, junior, “You can’t help but dance to it!”

The teachers’ acting and chemistry onstage definitely had the Presentation-we’re-a-family aura. Ms. Hetherington said, “We came to the play as strangers—most of us—and left as members of a wonderful community.” Mr. Buell and Mr. Cozort brought their friendship backstage, too. San Luis noted their harmony as one of the most memorable moments she had backstage on the set of Godspell. She said, “Mr. Buell and Mr. Cozort’s beautiful offstage and onstage bromance….beautiful.”

ITS Christmas!

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:56:45 +0000

On Dec. 4, the International Thespian Society (ITS) and improvisational team Spontaneous Combustion put on a show to share some Christmas cheer with the Pres community. The two groups put on an entertaining night that filled the audience with laughs and warmed their hearts despite the low temperature.

ITS is a club at Pres dedicated to letting those who love theatre be themselves. Members earn points through participating in productions at school. The girls involved in ITS get chances to act in the wide array of shows put on throughout the year or to be technicians, commonly known as techies, who do everything from building sets to manning the spotlights. Members of ITS also get the chance to lend their skills to local theatres to broaden their theatrical talents.

Spontaneous Combustion is a small but dedicated group of Pres girls and Bell guys who compete in the Comedy Sportz high school league. The improvisational team was started in 2007 when Mrs. Garcia-Rodriguez joined the Presentation community. “I felt like the team would be a nice addition to the already outstanding theatre arts department,” says Rodriguez. Although many of the shows done here at Pres consist only of our team, Spontaneous Combustion also travels to other schools to challenge their Comedy Sportz teams. Comedy Sportz involves many fun games in which players must interact with and entertain their audience. As the name “improvisational” implies, everything the team does during games is completely spur-of-the-moment, so the members of Spontaneous Combustion must think quickly and not be afraid to act, well, spontaneously.

“ITS Christmas” began with Leigh High school’s J.C. Molina, sophomore, dressed as an elf and telling Christmas-themed jokes. Junior Tanya Padagonkar performed a series of monologues throughout the show in the form of journal entries. The entries detailed the trials and tribulations of a man trying to survive a rather snowy holiday season. Junior Christine Jones and Bell junior Austin MacPhee then treated the audience to a sweet version of “Baby It’s Cold outside”.

Although she was not in any of the skits this year, ITS Officer Nicki Affonso-McMorrow, senior, enjoys participating in the show in any way she can. “It’s very relaxed,” she said, “but we designed it to really get Pres into the Christmas spirit.” She and the other members of ITS work together to come up with skits that will get their audience laughing. ITS gets ideas for the show from online as well as from the minds of their ever-talented members. In the longest skit of the night, sophomores Emily Griffith and Morgan Locke played reporters who were bored with their jobs. To spice things up, the two decide to improvise the rest of the news. This skit pulled many laughs from the audience and gave them characters they could relate to.

Next up were Kathy Stephan, sophomore, and Bell freshman Chris Brady. They two recited a poem about the difficulties Santa Claus faces in an increasingly politically correct world. Some of his many road blocks included his elves going on strike and the challenge of buying gender neutral gifts. In the end, Santa resolves to give the best gift of all: peace on earth. Bell senior Aaron Griffith wrapped up the night with the song “If You Believe” from the movie The Polar Express. The inspiring tune was the perfect way to send off the audience with loads of holiday spirit

Spontaneous Combustion was up next, opening with a Beatles song and a small dance from each of the members. The group was split into two teams of four for the night, and the extra player, named the “Jokester” had the opportunity to compete in all the games. Team captains Amanda Camillo, sophomore, and Shelby DieBold, senior, helped to pump up their teams and the audience by building human pyramids. “I love the improv team because I get to let out all of my excess energy and be as crazy and random as I want,” said Camillo. “You get to come out of your shell because nobody judges you.”

The group started off with the game “What Are You Doing?”. In this game, a player from one team pantomimes a random action. When the opposing team’s player asks, “What are you doing?” they must say something completely different. The second player must then act out what the first player says, and the game continues on. The referee can knock a player out for many reasons, including hesitation and stuttering. This game is used as a warm-up, so no points were awarded at the end, but this didn’t stop our comedy sportz players from pulling out all the stops and splitting a few sides in the process.

Another crowd favorite was “The Dating Game.” In this game, the Jokester played the part of a dating show host, while three players were the bachelors and bachelorettes, whose personas were picked by the audience, vie for the fifth player’s affections. Team captain DieBold channeled her inner Betty Boop, junior Tanya Padagonkar acted as Tiger Woods, and freshman Isabelle Polito hoped to woo the lucky bachelor as Harry Potter. Bell freshman Chris Brady had the opportunity to ask his teammates four questions each to discover their identities. At the end of the game, the team was awarded one point for every correct guess.

Later in the evening, Camillo’s team played catch up with the game “Slide Show.” In this game, two players are looking at a slide show of their last family vacation. The lights start out dimmed, but when they come up again, the other two players and the Jokester were in creative poses, meant to be a picture. The narrators then faced the challenge of coming up with an explanation for the many imaginative and funny poses presented to them. This game kept the audience on their toes, but they were not the only ones left guessing. Jen Greenfield, senior, was one of players posing. “Improv is so fast paced and it’s all about audience interaction. Each time I play a game I know it’ll turn out differently,” she said. For this game, points are awarded for the number of laughs the players earn from their audience.

For their final game of the night, both teams faced off in the game of “Story.” In this game, the players make up a story line by line. When the referee points to a player, they must continue where the last left off. This can get quite tricky because the referee can put players on the spot in the middle of sentences, leaving the second player the responsibility of making a grammatically correct sentence. This show’s story highlighted the adventures of a boy who went to the dentist and ended up having a rather odd dream due to sleeping gas. This game truly highlights the team’s ability to think quickly while still being funny. It was a great way to end the night, and after the final tally, Camillo’s team came out on top. DieBold and her crew didn’t seem too beat up about it, though. Like any good comedy sportz player, they knew that they would have the opportunity in the next game to make their crowd combust with laughter.

Actress Profile: Grace Farley

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:34:32 +0000

Grace Farley, sophomore, transferred to Presentation this year from Saint Francis. An active member of the theater program at her former school, Farley auditioned for the 2009 fall musical “Crazy for You” and landed the lead role. The show opened Saturday Nov. 7

The Voice: When did you first become interested in acting?

GF: “My first show was in sixth grade. I had wanted to do it for a while, and we lived next to a family who was into it too. The dad was the musical director for CMT. So I started trying out and now I’ve done seven CMT shows. It’s addicting!

The Voice: Did you discover your talent for singing or acting first? If you had to chose, which would you say you enjoy more?

GF: “I discovered my talent for acting first. I wasn’t really very confident in singing at first. But I eventually learned during the production of “Oklahoma”, which was my second show. Then I realized how much I love to sing, and now they are equally important to me.”

The Voice: Have you ever received any formal training in acting or did you just sort of learn as you went along?

GF: “I just sort of learned from the other actors I have worked with as I went along. I’ve also tried to learn from my favorite film actors as well. Some of the big-name actors I especially admire are Anna Hathaway and Julie Andrews, because she can also sing along with acting. Jack Black I have also always found inspiring because he is so bold.”

The Voice: What’s your favorite genre to perform in? (Comedy, drama, etc.)

GF: “I have never really done straight drama or straight up comedy; I’ve always done CMT before. But I love musicals because I can express myself in so many ways. It’s fun to have the chance to sing and act at the same time. So musicals are my favorite.”

The Voice: What is the most challenging role you ever had to play?

GF: “The most challenging role I’ve ever been cast in was probably the play called “Babes in Arms”. I played this crazy woman reporter, and I totally just had to put it all out there. That was the first time I’ve ever had a role like that, and it really helped get me out of my shell a little bit and made me more comfortable onstage. It was one of my favorite shows.

The Voice: What was your favorite play you’ve done so far?

GF: “I would have to say that my favorite show was the third one I did for CMT called Annie Warbucks. It was the sequel to “Annie”.

The Voice: Have you ever thought about Broadway?

GF: “Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think that’s every young actor’s dream. So I’ve definitely thought about it, but I also know that it’s a big risk; very few people make it. And there also isn’t a whole lot of publicity around plays, but I’d love to be in movies because people like that can use their fame to make a difference.”

The Voice: What career path would you chose if you do not pursue acting?

GF: “I’m not sure. I’ve thought about teaching or maybe getting into politics. It would also be fun to be a teacher for drama, or maybe come back and direct plays one day.

The Voice: What are the most challenging parts of being an actress? The most rewarding?

GF: “The best experience is just being up there and seeing the audience. It’s great having people clap for you and having friends come to see you with flowers. There’s so much work put into it that when the audience claps for you it feels like all that work has paid off.”

The Voice: How did you master singing and dancing at the same time?

GF: “I’ve never really danced a lot in a show until now, but it’s just mainly learning the steps and putting all the pieces together as you go.”

The Voice: Can you give us a head’s up about what “Crazy for You” is about?

GF: “It’s about a mother who sends her son to a town called Dead Rock Nevada so that he can foreclose his father’s theater. But he winds up falling in love with my character, who finds out that he’s about to close their theater. It’s a pretty complicated plotline! But it’s going to be a cool experience because it will be my first time in a lead role.”

The Voice: What’s it like to be in the lead for the first time?

GF: “I’ve never had this kind of part, and I’ve never had the lead before either. There are a lot of lines to memorize, but it’s so fun. I get to do an accent for the first time, which is interesting. My character’s just really fun. She’s sort of tom-boyish and country.”

The Voice: “How does the theater program at Presentation compare to the one at Saint Francis?”

GF: “I only performed in the gym at Saint Francis, so I never really was in the theater. So it wasn’t as nice as this one! I also think I have more fun doing theater here. But at Saint Francis there are an equal number of boys and girls. But here at Pres we’re always looking for boys! And Mr. Houle is really different, but totally cool! And everyone’s really nice here.”

ITS For Change: Habitat for Humanity

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:34:10 +0000

Problem: Nearly 3 million people in the United States alone every night do not have a home. The average age for those that are homeless in the United States is only nine years. 1.3 billion people worldwide live on less than $1.00 every day with no access to clean water, sanitation, or electricity. A solution: Habitat for Humanity.

On Oct. 1, Presentation’s Community Involvement Club, Amnesty International, Peer Ministry, and the International Thespian Society (ITS) put together a mind-blowing event that will not be forgotten. This year, the annual ITS concert focused on the idea of shelter and gave special focus to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit housing organization that concentrates on providing affordable housing for deserving impoverished families. Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 and has since grown to have operational locations in all 50 states of the United States and in 90 countries worldwide. With the help of incredibly selfless volunteers, over 300,000 houses worldwide have been built and this number increases every day. Their great cause makes it obvious why Habitat for Humanity was this year’s ITS pick for the concert.

Organizers took turns telling audience members the importance of affordable housing. The night started off with a solemn prayer read by Peer Ministry students, explaining that help is always there for those who need it. Amnesty International representatives spoke about the impact that homelessness has worldwide and explained the various causes of it in other countries. Their words further established the idea that no matter what the cause, homelessness is something that all of humanity can commiserate with. CI representatives explained through a beautiful presentation that when volunteers come together to build houses for families, the house becomes more than just a building; it becomes a shelter and home for people in need, which is one of the most important aspects of community work that Habitat for Humanity tries to emphasize.

The concert itself was packed with talented dancers, singers, actors and other performers, all of whom truly communicated to the audience their dedication to the stage and to providing inexpensive shelter for those in need. Jazz choir sang a beautiful Italian song from “The Mission” and the dance team performed with exceptional talent when dancing to Greg Laswell’s “Off I Go,” an emotional song that depicts the feeling of hopelessness experienced by several impoverished people across the globe. Other talented singers from both Presentation and Bellarmine sang mesmerizing songs that truly tied the event together, with voices filled with genuine emotion and dedication.

An obvious amount of effort went into producing this stunning event, with some students going above and beyond what was required for this event. Sophomore Emily Griffith wrote and composed her own song titled “Alone,” a moving song that touched the audience through both the wonderful music and the accompanying vocals provided by the composer herself and by sophomores Mandy Heiser, Morgan Locke, and Demi Pace. Senior Jennifer Greenfield also displayed an exceptional amount of commitment to the event both by creating her own arrangement to the song “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue and making a presentation to accompany it with statistics describing the hopelessness of being homeless. Other performers in the concert also showed amazing talent in both singing and acting.

This year’s ITS Concert for Shelter was a truly beautiful event that had talent and dedication bursting out of the seams. The concert truly showed the ever-present hope and determination that is found in each and every person at Presentation. It was an inspirational event that will motivate students to actively participate in volunteering for Habitat for Humanity and other related organizations. So now, let’s fix this problem, because with the help of everyone on campus, Presentation High School is the new solution to homelessness.

Actress Profile: Jennifer O’Brien

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:13:55 +0000

Q: How did you get into acting?

A: I actually got into acting in sixth grade because I started watching Saturday Night Live and I thought it was really funny. I liked the way they did all of their skits and scenes, so I thought “Hey! I can do that! Maybe…” I’ve always had an interest in it but never really got to do anything because I always did sports until eighth grade, so freshman year I started acting because of things like Saturday Night Live and Phantom of the Opera that influenced me.

Q: What was your proudest moment or performance?

A: Oh jeez…my proudest moment so far has probably been, this may sound weird, but SnipITS sophomore year. I finally got to prove myself. I was a DMV lady in SnipITS with Kirsti Gonzales, and it was my first real comic role at Presentation so I felt I really needed to prove myself. I did this weird voice and some people laughed, so I realized from there that my interest was in comedy and that’s what formed my proudest moment.

Q: Do you still prefer comic roles after being at Pres for three years, or are you also interested in serious roles?

A: I actually like both. My stereotypical role is comedy, but I found out through Acting I and II sophomore year that I could do dramatic acting as well. I don’t necessarily prefer comic acting, but people tend to cast me in comic roles because that is my typical role. I would really like the opportunity to branch out into dramatic acting, but I just haven’t had the chance yet.

Q: Do you have any idols or role models in acting? Who inspires you?

A: Well, I do really like Tina Fey who used to be on Saturday Night Live (laugh), and Amy Poehler, I think they’re genius with their comedic acting. I’ve always thought from an early age Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp are amazing actors as well. They can take on any role and they don’t take the roles that will get them money, they take the roles that they can do well and develop into, and I’ve always admired the people who can become a whole new person onstage or in front of a camera.

Q: What shows, or activities and clubs have you been a part of with acting and what are your plans for this year?

A: Freshman year, I was a techie for the musical Anything Goes. It was my first show at Presentation, and I was really excited. Then I did Romeo and Juliet during second semester. Then sophomore year I was in SnipITS and Into The Woods as the Giant. Then in spring, On The Razzle was so much fun, because I got to play a boy…no comment (laugh). That year I actually branched out even more by doing [Presentation’s Improvisation Team] Spontaneous Combustion all year which was really fun and I enjoyed competing at that. Now I am trying something new, which is Bellarmine theater. I’m currently in Midsummer Night’s Dream there and I’m on the improv team as well, Sanguine Humors. So it’s really fun, I’ve done a whole bunch of other [Presentation’s Theater Club] ITS shows in between, but those are the main ones.

Q: What are your future plans for acting, and do you plan to pursue it in college or in any sort of career path?

A: Yes. Right now, actually, my idea for the future is to do something having to do with comedy. I would also love to be a writer for comedy. I think it would be really cool if I could write it and act it. No one’s really seen my writing yet so I don’t know if it’s good (laugh), but we’ll find out won’t we! Anyways, I’m thinking about that as a career path, possibly moving to New York or L.A. and majoring in theater arts in college.

Q: Have you learned anything beyond stage skills that you can apply to real life?

A: There are so many things I’ve learned from doing shows at Presentation. Teamwork really comes into play because you need to bond with everyone. If you don’t get along with someone, your whole show is ruined because you avoid that person, which is not good, so you need to make sure you’re on everyone’s side. If someone trips during their dance number, you help them back up and cover up for them. Also, everyone is a family in the theater, so I’ve learned that aspect of loving everyone. Also, it requires a lot of leadership. You need to step up, not only be loud on stage, but you need to step up for others back stage as well and take the initiative if something goes wrong, you have to cover it up. What’s cool is I can bring a lot of these lessons into my real life aside from theater, which I believe is valuable.

Q: Are there any people you’ve wanted to thank throughout your life, either for inspiration or helping you get roles, auditions, etc?

A: The people who have influenced me the most are the people who did theater before me. There have been so many people that I’ve looked up to. I remember freshman year [the stage manager] Erin Simpson, who then was a junior, made me a sailor techie instead of a regular techie, and that made my life. To be on stage as a techie [which is not the norm] because I didn’t get in the show was amazing and I enjoyed that experience, so I have to thank her of course. Beyond that, just all of the ITS officers, because I’ve always looked up to them. I remember I always looked up to Kaity Hannigan and Paige Fodor freshman year. I also looked up to last year and this year’s ITS officers, who I’m very close with as well. They all inspire me and help me to do better, and I’m always looking to improve.

Simply SnipITS

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:19:13 +0000

The curtains of the Valenzuela Theater opened upon two angels dressed in white shirts, black pants, halos and wings who were plotting over the lives of the humans they were about to create.

“So, women get to have the offspring.”

“The males will be really jealous.”

“So there has to be some kind of trade-off…like make it really painful…”

So began Simply SnipITS, a collection of scenes performed and directed by students. The International Thespian Society, or ITS, performs SnipITS each year with different themes.

This year had the distinction of a performance of an original scene written by Presentation seniors Jennifer Greenfield, Jacquelyn Pass and Kaitlyn Jensen. “The Greatest Play. Ever” centered around three American girls stuck with French actors who mistakenly believe that they must finish writing a play by morning, with hilarious results. “We started by brainstorming about the weirdest things that had ever happened to us,” explained Greenfield. “We figured that people always say, ‘Write about what you know.’ We know about weird and wacky stuff, and it just sort of evolved from there.”

Other scenes included Barbie and Ken, Semi-Superheroes and much more. Though the show was directed on only by students, they put together an entertaining night for viewers. “Directing a scene myself was challenging because it was just me, but I was able to get lots of input from the actors, which made the scene that much better,” said ITS officer and senior Nicki Affonso-McMorrow.

ITS will be performing many shows throughout the year; the ITS concert will be taking place at 7:30 in the Valenzuela Theater on October 1. Be sure to come and watch the talent of the Presentation actresses!

The Laramie Project Comes to Pres

adviser — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:13:44 +0000

As a 16-year-old sophomore in Acting II, I had never heard of The Laramie Project before. Why anyone would make a movie about a small town in Wyoming was beyond my wildest imagination, so as the movie began, I sat back and relaxed, fully prepared to catch up on some much needed shut eye. Forty-five minutes later, I was on the edge of my seat with watery eyes, cursing the bell for ringing so soon.

It was 50 days before his 22nd birthday when Matthew Shepherd was murdered. Beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead by fellow Laramie residents, Shepherd was the victim of a hate crime against gays. Moisés Kaufman and the members of New York’s Tectonic Theater Project follow the stories and opinions of Laramie residents as they struggle with their attitudes toward the crime and share their own personal experiences. An intense drama, The Laramie Project delves into the minds of these small town residents as they express their feelings toward Shepherd, homosexuality, the death penalty and religion.

When I heard we were doing The Laramie Project here at Presentation, nobody had to convince me to audition. Having fallen in love with the movie already, I was thrilled that we were able to perform a play concerning such controversial issues as homosexuality and the death penalty.

From a theater perspective, The Laramie Project was unique, because we performed it on the round with the audience on stage surrounding the performers. This intimate performance was personal and easier to follow than a major production. Since the play has a large number of characters, each member of the cast played multiple people, using individual props to help the audience distinguish between characters.

While the unique set-up made things more interesting, it also posed some new challenges for the actors. The cast had to work with very limited space, which was especially difficult when four larger than life angels paraded onstage, huge wings and all. Also, each character always had his/her back to someone, which made projection one of the key elements to the performance.

Although there is no winner or loser at the end of the play, people walk out of the theater feeling like they’ve won something. There is a new sense of compassion towards not only the family and friends of Matthew, but everybody involved, from the cops and the bartenders to the defendants and their families.

Reflecting on the meaning behind the play, I realized that we were not so much trying to change anyone’s opinions as we were trying to give the human perspective of an unthinkable crime. As Laramie resident Roulin Stacy puts it, “I guess I just didn’t realize the magnitude with which some people hate.”