Cougars Show Off Their Talent - My High School Journalism

Entertainment
The Chronicle February& March 2010
Noises Off Is On!
By Rachel Bongiovi
Staff Reporter
After over three
months of practice, countless
weeks designing the
set, over a month and a half
of building and painting the
set, and many, many hours
spent doing everything it
takes to put on a production,
Noises Off had its premier
shows Friday and Saturday
night March 5th and
6th. The play was produced
and directed by the Kettle
Run theatre teacher, Ms.
Dillon. Mr. Smith designed
the two-story set which was
constructed by Mr. Smith
along with other adult and
student volunteers. By
the time everything was
in place, the cast and crew
had high hopes for their hilarious
comedy and couldn’t
wait for opening night.
After the Noises Off
premier, the cast and crew
had nothing but good things
to say about how the shows
went.
“I think they went
amazing! Opening night
especially, everything just
went absolutely perfect!”
commented freshman Hannah
Fakoury who plays
“Brooke”.
Junior Michael Parrish,
or “Gary”, says, “They
both went amazingly well!
I wish I could relive both
nights over and over again!”
Director and producer
of Noises Off, Ms. Dillon
agreed with the cast.
“I thought they went
spectacularly; especially
Friday night.”
After spending three
months practicing Noises
Off, the actors were able to
really develop and connect
with their characters.
“I love everything about
my character! He’s
like my child! But I especially
love how he can never
seem to say what he wants
to say.” Commented Parrish.
Junior Amanda Hickling,
“Belinda”, said,
“Belinda is very
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You....
City Island
Rated PG 13
March 19th 2010
Based upon De Felitta’s original
screenplay, “City Island”
is the story of a Bronx prison
deputy Vince Rizzo (Garcia)
who recognizes a prisoner
(Strait) as his grown child
whom he sired with another
woman twenty years earlier.
He decides to be the young
Emily Hagy and Hannah Fakoury search for Hannah’s lost contact during Act II.
much like me, she is always
trying to keep everything
together and lead everyone.
She is also a big gossiper!
She was really fun to play
because she kept the shows
together and kept everything
relatively sain!” Emily Hagy,
who played the crazy and unpredictable
“Dotty”, said,
“My favorite thing
about playing Dotty would
have to be that she’s a little
nutso so I really had no set of
ground rules. I got to do a lot
of crazy things in front of a
lot of people, which felt really
liberating.”
“My favorite part
about playing Poppy was
being able to be a British,
grungy-looking, nervous
wreck. The character is so
extremely different from my
actual personality, that it
made acting that much more
man’s guardian in Rizzo’s
family’s home, but his efforts
to conceal the nature
of his relationship to the
young man promptly begin
to unravel the complex web
of deceits which have worn
the family fabric threadbare
through the years.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Rated PG
March 19th 2010
fun.” Commented Junior Olivia
Christopher, or “Poppy”.
Noises Off is the first fulllength
comedy to be performed
at Kettle Run and the
entire cast loved taking part
in the hilarity.
“This is the first real comedy
I’ve ever been in and I’ve
found it’s a really nice feeling
you get when you make
people laugh,” commented
Hagy.
“My favorite part of
being in “Noises Off” is how
absolutely hilarious the play
is,” said Senior Kenneth
Hawes who played “Frederick”.
“There’s no feeling
that compares to the feeling
I get when I hear people
laughing at my performances,”
Christopher said.
The actors weren’t
the only ones working hard
Meet the kid who made
“wimpy” cool, in a family comedy
based on the best-selling
illustrated novel “Diary of a
Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney,
the first in a series that has
thus far sold 24 million copies.
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
chronicles the adventures of
wise-cracking middle school
student Greg Heffley, who
must somehow survive the
scariest time of anyone’s life:
photo by Sydney Marks and Nicole Tisdale
to put on Noises Off, a lot of
other people spent long hours
helping put this play together.
“I’m the stage manager,
which means I have
to call the show. It would be
extremely difficult if I didn’t
have such awesome people
working in the booth and on
the backstage crew. It’s really
fun to be behind the scenes
but it’s a lot of pressure too.”
Commented sophomore Emily
Brown.
Sophomore assistant director
Marion Silas said,
“Noises Off wouldn’t
be what it has become now
because each person plays
such a huge role, whether it’s
backstage or center stage.”
“I thought [the cast
and crew] worked very well
together; especially the running
crew. What a fantastic
middle school.
The Last Song
Rated PG
March 31st
Based on best-selling novelist
Nicholas Sparks’ (“A
Walk to Remember,” “The
Notebook”) latest novel, “The
Last Song” is set in a small
Southern beach town where
an estranged father (Greg
team!” Commented Dillon.
Outside of direct
questions the cast of Noises
Off had a lot to add and a
lot of people they wished to
thank.
“ Thank you so much
to the cast and crew of this
wonderful play! It wouldn’t
be nearly as amazing if each
and every one of you wasn’t
a part of it.” Commented
Parrish.
“I’d just like to thank
everyone that worked on the
show. Not only the cast or
crew but the adults involved
as well. Mr. Smith who built
our set volunteered an insane
amount of time and it’s
amazing! And of course Ms.
Dillon. We’re not the easiest
group of kids to work with
and this show is complicated
but she really stuck with us
and made the show phenomenal!
So thanks for all your
hard work and time everybody!
This was an amazing
experience!” said Hagy.
“Noises Off has always
been one of my favorite
plays and I’m so grateful
that I am acting in it as
my last high school play. I’m
going to miss Kettle Run
theatre so much next year!”
commented the only senior
cast member, Hawes.
The other actors of
Noises Off are junior Daniel
Patti as handyman “Tim”, junior
Colin Shea-Blymyer as
director “Lloyd”, sophomore
Riley Scott as “Selsdon”, and
sophomore Maddie Houck as
Poppy’s understudy.
“It definitely
surpassed [all my
expectations].”
Mrs. Jeanne Dillon
Director
All the cast and crew’s hard
work paid off in the end as
they delivered hilarious
performances loved by the
audience. Director Dillon
commented, “It definitely
surpassed [all my expectations].”
Kinnear) gets a chance to
spend the summer with his
reluctant teenaged daughter
(Miley Cyrus), who’d rather
be home in New York. He
tries to reconnect with her
through the only thing they
have in common—music—in
a story of family, friendship,
secrets and salvation, along
with first loves and second
chances.
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