CHS Players present night of one acts
Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Members of the Canfield High School Players were in character before their performance of “Check Please” during “A Night of One Acts” on March 20. Seated are Alaina Fuller and Neal Timlin. Standing, from left, are Drake Safranic, Carson Markley, Maddy Urig, Mitchell Halley, Alex Klucher, Taegen Catlin, Nick Palermo and Taylor Mead.
By ABBY SLANKER
Canfield High School Players presented “A Night of One Acts,” which included “Check Please” by Jonathan Rand, “Making the Move” by Noah Altshuler and “The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon” by Don Zolidis March 20-21.
Serving as director was Regina Reynolds, with Marlene Strollo as assistant director and costumer. Jacob Blystone served as student director and stage manager.
“We have 38 kids in this production. It’s difficult to find a non-musical production for that number of kids, so we went with three one act plays. Some students double up and are in two of the performances. They have all done a remarkable job,” Reynolds said.
The evening started with “Check Please,” which followed a series of blind dinner dates that couldn’t get any worse - until they do.
The “Check Please” cast included, Alaina Fuller as Girl, Mitchell Halley as Guy, Carson Markley as Louis, Rachel Nagy as Melanie, Drake Safranic as Ken, Kate Jenkins as Mary, Nicolas Palermo as Mark, Maddy Urig as Pearl, Taylor Mead as Todd, Rosie Bresson as Sophie, Neal Timlin as Brandon, Taegen Catlin as Linda, Alex Kluchar as Manny and Lexi Zoldan as Mimi.
The next one act play was “Making the Move,” which was about a first kiss and was a humorous look at young adults’ anxiety about themselves, their friends and the significant people in their life.
“Making the Move” is a new play and a work in progress so the Canfield High School Players will be asked to give their input to the author after their production.
“The students are very excited to part of the process for “Making the Move.” They are thrilled to be able to give their input,” Reynolds said.
The “Making the Move” cast was comprised of Neal Timlin as Connor, Lexi Zoldan as Hannah, Andrew Letsher as Stan and Rosie Bresson as Charlotte.
For the “The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon,” two narrators attempted to recreate all 209 fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm in a wild, fast-paced extravaganza. To make it more difficult, they attempted to combine them into one gigantic fable using “Rapunzel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderealla” and other more obscure stories like “Lean Lisa” and “The Devil’s Grandmother.”
The “The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon” cast included Emma Hartshorn as Female Narrator One, Michael Stefanik as Male Narrator Two, Zachery Bernat as Actor, Nicole Schmidt as Girl, Elizabeth Rhoades as Dirt Merchant, Olivia Ricciutti as Rumpelstilskin, Taegen Catlin as Enchantress, Andrew Letscher as The Devil, Ben Lawson as Prince One, Kate Hartshorn as Rapunzel, Alex Kluchar as Hansel, Lillijanna Tomko as Gretel, Lexie Denney as Witch, Emily Rhoades as Dwarf One, Melissa Dahman as Dwarf Two, Maddy Urig as Snow White, Mariah Sincel as Witch Two, Ally Cooper as Prince Two, Cara DeChurch as The Devil Two, Mackenzie Wright as The Devil’s Grandmother, Anna Pugh as Doctor, Rachel Nagy as Cinderella and Elizabeth Rhoades, Kate Jenkins, Lillijanna Tomko and Nicole Schmidt as Birds.
The run crew for the production included Harmeet Kaur, Christa Tedesco, Elena Merhaut, David Labra, Jonathan Scurich and Helen Neff. The sound crew consisted of Kyle Anderson Daniel Sylak, Michael Hartman, Raeanna Hanna, Camille Bagnola and Hannah Mattix and the lights crew included Andrea Stanic, Anna Hlaudy, Ethan Snyder, Dana Brown, Clarisse Rosteck, Sarah Green, Victor Labra, Smaranda Solomon and Nichole Breuer.
“It always amazes me how the students grow in their characters and as a person in such a short amount of time,” said Reynolds as she reflected on the play and the time she has spent with the students.
Strollo reflected on the time she spent as the CHS drama director from 1991-95.
“It’s nice to come back 20 years later and see all the changes that have been made. And these kids have been wonderful. They have been great to work with,” Strollo said.
The Canfield High School Players will present “Mary Poppins” as its fall musical for the 2015-16 school year.