High school drama reaches new high with stage flight

By STEPHANIE OTTEY

The musical theater production is as close to professional as a high school can get.

BOARDMAN — The students and staff of the Boardman High School Drama Guild are known for going above and beyond, and now they’re doing it quite literally.

With the help of a company brought in from Las Vegas, the Guild’s production of “Fiddler On The Roof” will include a character who “flies” over the stage. The famed musical opens Friday.

The Guild has hired Flying by Foy to make Fruma Sarah, the deceased wife of Lazar Wolf, hover over Tevye’s head in a dream sequence. Tevye is a villager who has promised one of his daughter’s to Wolf for marriage.

Haley Crossen, a senior, plays Fruma.

Nick Opritza, technical director of the Guild, suggested using Flying By Foy. Opritza had earlier worked with the company in a production at Powers Auditorium.

Patrick Leonard of Flying By Foy arrived at Boardman High last Thursday and stayed until the next day to get the system set up. It took three hours to incorporate the system into the Boardman Performing Arts Center stage and show how to operate it.

Flying By Foy, estabished in 1984, grew from the efforts of Peter Foy, a theatrical visionary who worked in Europe until his arrival in New York in the 1950s. Noticing a lack of good theatrical flying equipment, Foy developed his own system, known as the Inter-Related Pendulum. This innovative system made Foy’s name synonymous with theatrical flying. Foy refined his system until he arrived at the Track on Track system that is used today.

“We always try to bring something new to the community” said David Mullane, Boardman Drama Guild director and newly trained stunt operator. “It’s great to be able to bring such a high level of professionalism to our productions, not only for the students, but also so our audiences can see something out of the ordinary.”

The students involved are some of the first high schoolers in the region to have such a hands-on experience with professional equipment and flying stunts. Audiences will see the actress “fly” up and down and left to right across the stage.

The effect, along with the sets from Pittsburgh Musical Theater and the incorporation of the Boardman Orchestra for music, makes the production as close to professional as a high school can get. Mullane and Jeannine Hodge are the directors; Errol Kehrbert is music director. Hodge also handles choreography.

The cast includes junior Tim Welsh as Tevye; sophomore Katelyn DeLadurantey as Tevye’s wife; and senior Paige Donatelli, senior Brittany Burin and senior Jessica Curtis as his daughters.

“Fiddler on the Roof” is set in a traditional Jewish village in czarist Russia in 1905, the eve of political upheaval.

X“Fiddler on the Roof” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Nov. 21 and Nov. 22. For more information and tickets, go to boardmandramaguild.com. Tickets will also be available at the box office of Boardman Performing Arts Center, 7777 Glenwood Ave., Boardman, before all performances.