Under the spotlight
Senior directors Simon Kirjner, Holly Templeton, Charlotte Ludlow, and Daniel Miao led 59 students to perform in the Student Directed Showcase (SDS) on Friday and Saturday in the Patil Theater.
The directors picked Kendra Thomas’s “The Struggles,” Stephen Flaherty’s “Anastasia” and Ted Pezzulo’s “April Fish” respectively, then decided the cast, blocking and their own interpretation of the staging.
Charlotte and Holly opted to merge their shows to put on a full one-hour musical, a first for SDS: Charlotte led the first act of “Anastasia,” and Holly directed the second. Junior Megha Unny and sophomore Ellen Zhang played the title character in acts one and two respectively.
“Fitting a full musical in SDS is something that’s never been done before,” Megha said. “At first, I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be a lot of work,’ because of the music, choreo, acting and blocking happening all at the same time. Despite not having much time or budget, they did such an amazing job.”
The play follows an amnesiac named Anya who journeys from Leningrad to Paris in the 1920s to discover if she is the lost Grand Duchess Anastasia. Charlotte discussed how the coming-of-age theme of the musical inspired her to reflect on her own journey after high school.
“This story is about a girl who’s lost and alone but slowly finds herself, which I really resonated with because I’m finding out about where I’m going for the next four years of my own life,” Charlotte said. “But I learned from directing this — and I hope you take this with you — that you will become the person you want to be. No matter how long it takes, you will do it.”
Simon directed “The Struggles,” a play following a young girl named Megan as she navigates ADHD and dyslexia in her school and home life. With offstage voices and tableaus that allowed the audience to hear Megan’s conflicting inner thoughts, Simon conveyed the physical experience of neurodivergence.
“I picked this show because I also have ADHD and dyslexia,” Simon said. “The world and Harker are difficult environments for the neurodiverse. Sometimes we need a little extra help, which adults sometimes don’t recognize. I want this show to address these problems and show the Harker community what people like me and many others at this school have to deal with.”
Sophomore Bryan Ma, who played the student Paul in Simon’s play, appreciated how cast members contributed more to the creative process, such as staging, compared to typical productions.
“Most directors are very open to listening to ideas,” Bryan said. “If you suggest something like a blocking or an action, chances are the director will consider it, which gives students a better opportunity to perform how they want to, and to explore things themselves and play around with how they act.”
Daniel opted for a more comedic performance by directing “April Fish.” Set in an Italian neighborhood of New York in the 1940s, the play details a prank where the main character Fortunato plays dead in order to get a free bathroom repair.
Junior Omar Khan played Fortunato, while senior Duncan Marquardt acted as the duped repairman. Omar reflected on the conviction that he tried to portray in Fortunato to bring the comedic elements in “April Fish” to life.
“One thing that makes these roles really comedic is that the character first needs to act like they want people to take them seriously, but about something that’s really funny,” Omar said. “They’re not doing a very good job at it, and the comedy comes from that ironic paradox. I think I found my own original touch with Fortunato as the rehearsal process went on.”
Starting from the first week of November, cast members of all four shows met at their directors’ houses over the weekends to rehearse in addition to practicing both during and after the school day.
“Being a cast member of SDS is a little bit different from other productions because the directors, especially this year, they’re my friends, which is really, really fun,” Megha said. “It’s cool to see them step into this leadership role, and how much they’ve grown since I first met them, which was a long time ago.”
In addition to building community between actors, SDS brought the wider Harker community together through their support for everyone involved. Sophomore Vivian Zhang came to SDS to support her friends, actors Angela Pang (10) and Kiara Rani (9).
“I love that there’s an opportunity for students to use the resources that Harker has and have that freedom to express themselves,” Vivian said. “Having this performing art showcase that’s directed by them, so they get to make those choices, is equally as interesting as the ones where you have faculty and staff working on it. But it also feels almost more powerful knowing that these are all choices that the students specifically wanted and made.”
