Saratoga News

Education

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Saratoga High School's (from left) Alexia Dox, Mariana Lo, Sonnet Sparacino, Matt Corbalis and Elizabeth Berg were among those drama students who saw their ideas come alive on stage.

Professional actors bring students' plays to life

By Michele Leung

It's one thing to be onstage and give a dramatic performance using someone's directions. It's another to be the creative force behind the words and watch others breathe life into characters that had only existed in your head.

Eight Saratoga High School drama students recently experienced how their original ideas can go from the page to the stage. TheatreWorks, a regional theater company, selected their one-act plays to be performed by actors affiliated with the company. The performance was April 19 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

"We're still on cloud nine," drama teacher Kathleen Woods said.

For two months, Woods' Drama 4/4H students have taken part in the TheatreWorks for School program, a project in which a playwright-in-residence works with students to craft their own 15-minute plays.

"I've done a fair amount of writing, and writing a play takes less time than prose or poetry. But in some ways, it's harder," said junior Elizabeth Berg. "It's hard to tell if what you've written is good."

The students learned in class how to create characters and conflicts, the basis of any play. Elizabeth used what she learned to write a play about an emotional night five teenagers have before they leave for college.

"I wanted the characters to portray realistic people," she said. "I wanted to touch the audience."

For several of the young playwrights, penning their drama or comedy was the first time they've ever done anything like it. While some are comfortable with writing, it was a new experience for others. Senior Matt Corbalis was out of his element, but he eventually found his groove.

"I'm more a science person," he said.

Chemistry may be his forte, but he managed to write a farcical play about two roommates who go to great lengths to find money to pay their rent. Matt has taken part in school plays and said he had fun concocting scenarios for his characters. However, he said after high school, he'd leave acting and playwriting to "the more talented people out there."

"This is very new to me," he said.

The students met with the directors and actors the day of the production, when the professionals ran through the scripts and determined how the actors should move on stage. There was a minimal number of props during the performance, and the actors still had their scripts in hand when they took to the stage for the audience. However, the students said the scripts didn't take away from the show.

"The mark of good acting is that you don't notice the script," said senior Mariana Lo. "They were engaging in the scenes."

Mariana's play was a parody of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.

The young dramatists brought their parents and friends to see the debuts of their plays and experienced their own version of stage fright.

"It was nerve-wracking because I didn't want people to leave thinking, 'I could have slept through it,' " said junior Alexia Dox. "I wanted something entertaining."

Alexia's goal was to have a good plot and to make people laugh, and it seems she succeeded. Her play, complete with a political song, revolved around the stories behind all the characters that enter an Italian restaurant, and it received positive reviews, she said. Through the creative process, Alexia said she acquired an appreciation for other playwrights.

"It wasn't stressful, but it was a challenge to make it right, to a quality that's presentable," she said.

For Sonnet Sparacino, it was scary to have a personal work be critiqued and staged for an audience, but her fears and anxieties were worth it, she said.

"I used to ignore stage directions," said the senior, who's been acting since she was 6, "but now I know a lot of thought goes into it."

The students credited the actors for the professionalism they extended to them. They added it was apparent to them the actors weren't using their plays to showcase their acting chops but to perform for the students.

"I was so impressed with the actors and how special they made us feel," Sonnet said. "They kept saying we were the future."

Sonnet took her penchant for arguing and built a comedy around a couple that fought because the husband didn't pick up a head of cabbage at the market. But she said she was hardly alone in injecting herself in her play.

"I could see a piece of [my classmates in their plays]," she said. "I was impressed with that they came up with. There's a lot of creativity and talent."