The Theatre program at Noble High School in Berwick has come a very long way since I first had the pleasure of attending performances there in the 80s.
I can think of no better measure of those decades of progress — three steps forward, two steps back, as with virtually every theatre company in any town — than the quality of Clue: the HIGH SCHOOL Edition, the show I saw this past weekend on Hussey Theater’s more than ample, well-equipped Shiela Jordan Stage. On Opening Night, this group of young thespians was sky-high with enthusiasm and, thanks to the always thorough, always highly professional direction of Kelli Leigh-Ann Connors, remarkably well disciplined at pretty much every turn.
That there was virtually no drifting, no dropping of character, no lost or fractured dialogue, and a consistent quality of stagecraft from every actor in every scene, says everything about the quality of Connors’ directing and her all-important ability, as an educator, to motivate her actors — to make them fall in love with acting — that and every other onstage and offstage element of live theatre as an art form.
My many years of experience in live theatre, in both New England and the Midwest, have taught me what all theatre professionals and amateurs, onstage and off, finally learn: that without a worthwhile play, really strong direction, solid administrative support, rigorous rehearsing and a troupe of well-trained, highly motivated actors, no stage performance can hope to earn the applause it so understandably yearns for.
In high school based theatre programs especially, the unqualified support of the administration, classroom teachers across all disciplines, parents and the wider community is critically important. Fortunately, Noble High is blessed with an abundance of that support.
The administrators at Noble are genuinely enthusiastic about their Theatre Department and proud of its accomplishments! One cannot over-emphasize the importance of the role they perform in a high school production. They understand the value of live theatre in the lives of their students and in the lives of those in every sector of the larger community. As with sports, the quality of a school's choral, instrumental, theatrical, and visual arts programs helps guarantee a strong, healthy relationship between any school and the community it serves.
The Costumes in this production, especially those of the female actors, were very strong. As often happens with the males in any troupe of actors at the high school level, there appeared to be less attention paid to the details — the colors and textures, the head-to-toe wardrobe coordination, the design and onstage condition of the costume itself.
The lighting for this show was truly superb, and under Connors’ well-informed guidance and expertise as a lighting designer, it always is. The overall set design, well-constructed and utilizing two levels instead of just one, worked very well for both audience and actors, making the actors’ stage movement much more dynamic — more riveting — than it might otherwise have been.
The live musical accompaniment — all piano — was well done, and so were the sound effects.
The scene changes were noticeably better handled than in many high school productions — once again, a laudable accomplishment that belongs to Kelli Leigh-Ann Connors and of course the actors themselves. My guess — actually more than a guess, my experience tells me — is that the work of Stage Manager Hyla Fitchett and her Assistant, Alyssa Goulet, had a lot to do with the fast, crisp movement from scene to scene.
One of the largest, most demanding roles in this production, played to perfection by sophomore Emrey West, was that of Wadsworth, the Butler who, in this play at least, was required, in effect, to be a critically essential, ever-present circus ring master or modern-day interlocutor. That character’s work onstage helped hold the storyline together and keep the play rolling along at a good, fast clip.
As Wadsworth, Ms. West turned in a commanding performance, making intelligent use of her obvious, natural born gifts as a comedienne. Her stage energy on Opening Night was at times downright astounding; her timing essentially flawless; and her fearlessness as an actor both an exhilarating sight to behold and a feast of the senses — especially for someone as young and relatively inexperienced onstage as she is. I see bigger, even more demanding roles in her future — and in a wide range of character types, too — perhaps even into college and beyond.
— Ross Alan Bachelder, Berwick, Maine
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