The One Act Play festival is the competition of more than 100 schools in Massachusetts.
Each one act play tells a story within 30 to 60 minutes. Bishop Feehan presents: Around the
World in 80 Days, a piece which takes about 38 minutes. To learn more about this production, and how it was so skillfully put together I interviewed some of the cast and crew.
Myles Flores and Avery Pimental are the stage managers of this production. I asked
about the challenges they had to take on especially with such a fast moving production. They
explained the hardest challenge was reprogramming the lights within the different lighting
systems, as they have to travel to many different schools. This pushes them to be able to
quickly learn and adapt, in order to be fast and effective. Myles and Avery, as well as many
members of the company define what they are most proud of as being the culture of the cast
and crew. The environment is instantly welcoming, with each member being conscientious of
including everyone.
I went on to ask Leah Collins about her challenges. Leah played many of the
characters; seven to be exact! Leah explained her challenge as “finding clear ways to
differentiate my characters. Many of them are British, [and] it was hard finding ways to make them stand out.” Leah usually performs in musicals, which are mainly focused on singing. This production was unique as she could experiment with different characters. It varies from other productions, because of the size of the cast and crew. This being a much smaller cast and crew creates a more close-knit community, allowing for more opportunities to get to know each other better, and make new friends.
Sydney Merhige’s role was different from many other roles, as she was not British but
French. I asked how she prepared to play this character, and she described watching actors
speaking with a French accent, (including Emily in Paris), and listening to French podcasts.
Sydney is not only showing dedication to her character, but also to Theater II Workshop, along with Myles Flores. She further described what she was proud of in this show:
“Myles and I designed the entire set ourselves and we have hanging lanterns and the interactive suitcases and trunks. I’m really proud of the way we collaborated to create such a unique and dynamic set.”
Then I went to the music portion of the crew, interviewing Summer Stowik-Arteaga, the
guitarist, and Mayukha Reddy, the percussionist. Regarding her experience in the show,
Summer explains that it was challenging at first, but the organized resources such as the sheet music and queue sheet were helpful. Mayuka further talks of her experience: “I’ve never done anything like this before, it was really interesting for me to experience. Overall it was nice working with different people and trying a new music genre.” She continues to explain her experience and part in the music production: “I just started playing drums a few months ago. I helped write a few parts because we didn’t have a lot of percussion parts written.”
Ava Albonetty and Malena Gallagher are a part of the slides crew, who run the
projectors. Ava describes them as “old hollywood-style film cards.” When focusing on the
preparation before each show, they have to check every slide, and the projectors, making sure each slide fits correctly, and the lights are turned on at the right time. While discussing what they are most proud of, Malenia discusses how the slides had prototypes, each time getting better, making the slides what she is most proud of. Ava, who is also the props lead, believes the props for this show are the best she has ever done. She also explains the importance of the slides: “No other shows I’ve seen have done slideshow projections.” This makes Bishop Feehan’s production especially stand out.
Eva Bennett, the head of costumes, details how the costumes were efficiently prepared.
To productively pull together costumes they had to use what they had, or bring what they had from home, in addition to making costumes when needed. The costume crew made all the skirts and blouses; Eva describes, “We started with finding patterns from really early on. Every time we were here we were sewing something new.”
Jack Handren and Josh Dulaski are members of the ensemble, where they play many
different parts. Josh is also the narrator and ship clerk. He discusses how he prepares for each show by drinking a lot of water, doing vocal warm ups, and getting all the nerves out. He further explains: “One of the hardest things that I find about theater is getting over all the nerves.” He also states that once you are over the nerves you can walk out on stage and be yourself while presenting to the audience. Jack describes this presentation as being different from others as: “Instead of being focused on 2-3 people it is a moving production where everyone is involved.”
Philip Shea, the train conductor, and Matt Roslonek, who plays Phileas Fogg, both include prayer in their preparation before each show. Matt describes it as: “I always say a quick Hail Mary just to calm my nerves a little bit and relax, and I give as many people I can a little fist bump or a pat on the back, because they got this.” This again showcases the sense of community, even family, as some described it. The bonding moments mentioned by almost every cast and crew member I interviewed were the bus rides, to and from each school they visited.
Finally I spoke to Nathan Galipeau who plays Detective Fix, and composed much of the
music. We discussed what he wants people to remember from this production. He explains he wants people to remember the music he wrote with Matt Roslonek, they took several months to finish this music, up until they had to start working with the musicians. He will also remember “the feeling of hearing music you composed yourself, played live, is just incredible.” Nathan strongly recommends people to join theater, as it is not only a fun experience, but the feeling after working on a product for several months, and then to perform it yourself, has never been matched.
This impressive cast and crew made it all the way to state finals— congratulations to all
involved!
