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And the Freddys go to…
(by Elsie Walker - June 11, 2008)
Hackettstown High School thespians in a scene from the spring production of CATS.
PHOTO BY ELSIE WALKER FOR THE WEEKLY NEWS
“Hackettstown High School….Hackettstown High School…..Hackettstown High School…..” Stacy Sander Higgins, Drama Di-rector for the high school remembers hearing those words and sobbing. She was listening to radio coverage of the announcement of the 2008 State Theater Freddy nominations for excellence in high school theater.
The State Theater Center for the Arts in Easton, Pennsylvania has a yearly ceremony similar to Broadway’s Tony awards. Their website explains that “a panel of experienced evaluators view participating school's performances in the Lehigh Valley and Warren County, New Jersey and critiques 18 categories such as acting, singing, lighting, set design, etc.” This year Hackettstown High School received 10 Freddy nominations for its spring production of CATS. That would later translate into three awards for the school.
At the May 22 awards presentation (broadcast on WFMZ CHANNEL 69), Hackettstown High School walked away with Fred-dys for outstanding choreography, outstanding achievement in costuming, and outstanding overall production by a smaller school. The Freddy Award is named for the late J. Fred Osterstock, who managed the company that owned the State Theater from 1936-1965. The awards mark outstanding achievement in local high school theater.
Higgins, whose own theater background includes regional theater and a national tour of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, noted that she had been drawn to do CATS for the spring production; however, when she asked her friends in the industry about it, they told her it couldn’t be done. A successful high school production of CATS would be impossible
“But my heart said ‘yes’,” recalled Higgins. And, her heart proved to be right.
“The amount of work put into this [production] was tremendous,” said Higgins.
Forty-one students were in the cast, four students were in the orchestra pit, and one student helper was backstage. In addition, the Musical Director was choir teacher Heather Frampton, the Orchestra Director/Conductor was band teacher Jesse Argenziano, and Higgins acted as Director/Choreographer.
One major aspect of the production was the costuming (which included wigs and make-up). Higgins noted that it was all done “in house”.
“We didn't want to look cheap. We wanted to look like real cats and have our costumes look authentic and not like a bunch of high school kids made them. Sean Copko [another Freddy nominee, who played Rum Tum Tiger] did the wigs. He spray painted, cut and styled almost every single one and even gave them little cat ears. I helped with the actual unitards. The other members of the cast would suit up and walk outside in freezing cold march weather, and I carefully spray painted them, giving them strips, spots, whatever…. you name it. So many parents helped, too. It was a group effort and it was so amazing to win best costuming. All the hard work and effort we put into it really paid off,” said senior Laura Grant who played Grizabella, the Glamour Cat
“I found that making our own costumes and doing our own make-up was not only a challenge but kind of fun. It was interesting to see what people would do to their faces to make themselves look like cats. The only challenges that went with doing our own make-up were that it sometimes sweat off during the show,” said sophomore Steven Etienne, who played Mr. Mistoffelees (and received a Freddy nomination ).
Another challenge was that CATS required a lot of dancing.
“When I first started the play, it seemed like an enormous responsibility to be taking on. The production was so huge. And with-out many experienced dancers in such a dance-oriented show, I was a little nervous about how we could accomplish it. But in the end. everything came together great,” recalled senior Sarah Murray who played Victoria and was another Freddy nominee.
Etienne echoed that sentiment, “When I found out we were doing CATS, I immediately thought it would be a disaster. I knew that doing CATS required a very skilled dance ensemble and I wasn’t sure Hackettstown was able to do it. But in the end, it came together and became something I would have never thought of. It was a very memorable experience.”
The night of the Freddy awards ceremony, not only were members of the Hackettstown High School production in the audience, but several were selected to be on stage in the musical numbers done during the program. Two of those were Murray and Grant.
Grant recalled when it came time to announce the winner of the Freddy for outstanding overall production by a smaller school: “Words can't even describe the feeling. I was back stage with Sarah Murray because we had to be in place for the closing perform-ance. Right before they read our name, Sarah and I were like holding each others hands with our eyes closed tight and just whispering ‘C'mon, c'mon... say Hackettstown!’ and then it happened. We screamed and just started jumping up and down, dancing, waving our arms and just completely freaking out. It was the best feeling ever!”
Higgins remembers students from other, bigger schools standing and congratulating hers. That was one moment that stood out for her that night.
And of course, there were many proud parents as well. Among them was Linda Murray, who noted what Higgins’ coming on as drama director last fall has meant to the school’s theater program…and of course what the students’ contributions meant to the show.
“The addition of Stacey to this program has resulted in a real resurgence in the drama program. I have had kids in the Hack-ettstown High School system for six years now and CATS is by far the best production in those six years. I give much of that credit to Stacey, and also to these kids. Something just clicked with this show and all the talent and dedication came together for what I would evaluate as a "near perfect" musical. People in this [Hackettstown] community who did not get to see this show missed out on a wonderful night of theater,” said Murray.
| Comments (1) |
On June 12, 2008, JOe said:
Great Story |
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