Area Catholic high schools’ fall stage offerings ‘eclectic’
Take your pick. This autumn’s Catholic high school theater offerings within the Archdiocese of San Francisco are eclectic, with something for just about everyone. The productions range from a light-hearted romp through 200 years of the American presidency to a soul-searing examination of the modern dilemma of the death penalty to an old-fashioned who-done-it, the Sherlock Holmes classic “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
There’s even a musical —“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” — at Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton.
There are two homages to William Shakespeare and another two adaptations of novels by the great documenter of Victorian England’s unjust economic system, Charles Dickens.
Besides offering a chance to see some of the Bay Area’s budding talent, the high school shows offer an inexpensive night out on the town during tough economic times.
In every drama production, the local Catholic high schools are aiming to give as many students as possible an opportunity to experience acting, stage management, set design and all the other pieces that belong to a dramatic production. At St. Ignatius Preparatory in San Francisco, director Ted Curry decided to let three students play each role in “Lend Me a Tenor.”
“We triple cast the show to give more students an opportunity,” said Curry, long-time drama director at the Jesuit high school. Curry said this is the first time he has tried this with students, but triple casting worked with adult professionals.
“It is a bit more work, but in the long run it allows us to give students time off during the run of the show. One cast is on, one cast is the understudy cast and the other cast has the night off. Then we rotate,” he said. “Each cast will get three performances.”
At Archbishop Riordan High School, drama director Valerie O’Riordan decided the election year was an opportunity for a little satire and a civics lesson at the Marianist boys’ school in San Francisco. “West Wing Follies” covers 200 years of American presidents in about 90 minutes, from George Washington to George W., with Uncle Sam on stilts and 14 actors playing 60 parts, O’Riordan said, noting, “The show opens just 10 days after we go to the polls, and the cast is writing three alternative endings – the final choice determined by who ultimately wins this history-making election.”
Marin Catholic will present “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and senior Wade Higgins says acting in a story of a Jewish teenager who hid in an attic for two years before she died in the Holocaust helps keep something important alive. “We have a moral obligation to learn from the mistakes of the past,” said Higgins. Marin drama director Karen Kizer agrees: “We can learn from the strength, dignity and even optimism with which Anne and her fellow captives persevered. We must continue to tell this and other stories of unfathomable suffering.” Mercy, San Francisco’s version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” will feature “Charlotte Holmes” since the all-girls school is presenting the show, said Teresa Attridge, 17, a Mercy senior who will play Charlotte.
Mercy rotates drama, Shakespeare, comedy and mystery every four years, and this is the year of the mystery. In addition, Mercy double-casts each role so the seven-actor play actually features 14, including boys from Washington, Lowell and International high schools.
“We got to build this great set, a mansion from the 1920s, complete with a trapdoor,” said Attridge. “People should expect the unexpected. I must say it is very turbulent. We even have an actual hound in the show, but I cannot say anything more.”
In another step into 19th century England, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory is presenting a new adaptation of “Oliver Twist,” written by Neil Bartlett, and it is a “darkly tragic-comic tale,” drama director Francine Torres-Kelly said. Tim Green, 16, an SHCP junior, plays Fagin, the thief who takes the orphan Oliver under his wing.
While it is based on the Dickens’ novel, Green said the sets are the minimalist “black box” mode and the dialogue is modern. “It’s pretty daunting. It’s very dark for a high school production. It is supposed to give you a very bleak sense of Victorian London.”
Across town, Convent of the Sacred Heart and Stuart Hall high schools offer a nod to another Englishman, William Shakespeare, with their production “After Juliet,” a sometimes serious look at life for the Capulets and the Montagues after Romeo and Juliet meet their sad ends. “The play addresses: what do you do with ongoing conflict that you can’t resolve?” said Pamela Rickard, the schools’ drama director.
But there is plenty of comedy and romance as well, said Stuart Hall senior Sam Catapano whose character, Benvolio, “is trying to get the girl.”
In San Mateo, three high schools collaborate for the Tri-School Productions play staged at Junipero Serra High School. The girls’ schools, Mercy-Burlingame and Notre Dame-Belmont, provide cast and stage crew along with Serra, said Jay Jordan, chairman of the Serra visual and performing arts department.
This year’s “Dead Man Walking” — an adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean’s book —follows Sister Prejean through her emotional journey as she gives council to death row inmate Matt Poncelet. “The aim is to keep the debate about the death penalty going,” Jordan said, noting the play is offered to Catholic schools by the Dead Man Walking Theater Project because of the Church’s concern for justice and respect for life.
“Hamlet” will satisfy the traditionalists among us, although San Domenico School’s staging is a stream-lined version of the Shakespearean tragedy. This 90-minute adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies was first produced by the Utah Shakespearean Festival.
At the end of the high school fall theater season, Woodside Priory will present Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol,” during the first weekend of December, said John Sugden, head of the performing arts department at the co-ed 6-12-grade school in Portola Valley. The production is an annual all-school event so students from grades 6-8 can be included, and it is appropriate for the Christmas season. Additionally, said Sugden, “With the economy where it is, the themes of ‘A Christmas Carol’ speak to the sense of belt-tightening and people struggling in hard times.”
A member of St. Gabriel Parish, San Francisco, Valerie Schmaltz is a contributing editor of Our Sunday Visitor magazine.
