Warwick Middle School Drama Club goes ‘Into the Woods'

Warwick - This year, the Middle School Drama Club will be doing the Broadway classic, “Into the Woods,” on April 20 and 21 at the high school auditorium. This show first opened at the Martin Beck Theatre in 1987 and ran 764 performances. It was directed and written by James Lapine with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. “Into the Woods” is about various fairy tale characters who set out “Into the Woods” to solve their problems and live happily ever after. A few of the characters include Jack, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and the Witch. It has been performed with a cast of 15 people, but the Middle School Drama Club will be doing it with 142. On Saturday, March 10, I went to one of the rehearsals. It started at 8 a.m. with the “townsfolk” and “fairy folk” and leads coming in at 10 a.m. Noreen Hanson, the director, jokingly told any townsperson arriving at 8:01 and later that they were late. Katie Bisaro, the producer, took attendance while everyone sat on the steps of the stage in the cafeteria. Student director Nicole Barron, student producer Anna Bisaro and stage manager Chris Miles also were present. During the roll call, Mrs. Hanson was informed that testing was being done on the fire alarm. She later told the students that if the alarm went off, not to do anything, but if there was a real fire, they would evacuate the building, except for a few special people who would “stay behind and hold down fort.” Mrs. Hanson had everyone rehearse on the opposite side of the cafeteria, away from the stage where volunteers and stage crew worked on the set and props. As everyone got into their places, they sang the act one finale, “Ever After.” “Okay, that was sloppy,” Mrs. Hanson said afterward. “Let’s go through it again.” The second time around Mrs. Hanson yelled instructions over the music, and she made the actors and actresses do it again. On the third try, Mrs. Hanson had them walk through it slowly so she could correct as they went. At one point, the students were partnered together and had to do a complex turn while holding hands. Mrs. Hanson did it once incorrectly, and had one pair do it again. When they did it the right way, Mrs. Hanson shouted to nobody in particular that she was wrong. Choreographer Lucinda Henry arrived later to work with the “trees” and other leads in one particular scene in which characters are fighting and blaming each other. The trees used a special camouflage material, which cast the illusion of a forest. “Into the Woods” will be performed at the Warwick Valley High School auditorium on April 20 at 7:30 p.m. and April 21 at 1 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale later this month. Conversation with the Witch To find out more about the show, I interviewed Stephanie Thiessen, an eighth grader, who has the role of the Witch: Q: What do you think is the hardest part of “Into the Woods?” A: I think the hardest part is learning the dance steps all together - and then singing at the same time. Q: How many times a week do you rehearse? A: Um ... (talking to person next to her) every day, right? Yeah, we rehearse everyday after school until 4:30. Q: What’s the most important lesson you think you’ve learned by being in the Drama Club? A: The most important lesson? This is hard to put into words - you should be friends with everybody, even if you don’t like them, because they all have something important to offer. Farrell Brenner is a cub reporter for The Warwick Advertiser, covering students and events at the Warwick Middle School.