By Alexandra Monfalcone, Megan Frederick and Michelle Bertram
For the first time in more than a decade, Morristown High School Theatre is doing a “double take” on its drama. That is because there are two casts!
The directing team, led by Morristown High School technology education teacher Michael Maguire, has decided to double-cast this year’s fall comedy, You Can’t Take it With You, which runs from Nov. 17-20, 2016.
This exciting 20th century play features the odd-but-loving Vanderhof-Sycamore family, all living in the same house in the 1930s.
Each member has distinct oddities; for instance, Martin Vanderhof, the grandfather and patriarch, played solely by senior Steven Blenner, spends his days attending college commencements, collecting snakes, and evading paying his income tax.
The challenge comes when granddaughter, Alice Sycamore, played by juniors Victoria Fanning and Maggie Mustion, comes home from her office day job to announce that her straight-laced and uptight boss’ son, Tony Kirby, is calling for her.
The two spend a lovely romantic night together, and while Alice is skeptical, they arrange for their families to meet a week later.
However, chaos ensues when the Kirby family walks in on the wrong evening. The family tries to make the night go off well for Alice, but everything falls apart in the presence of a terrible game proposed by Alice’s mother, Penny Sycamore.
The night ends when the house is raided by the police, who arrest everyone, only to witness the house blow up — an average Wednesday night for the Sycamore family.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
The idea of double casting, though not a common choice, was extremely beneficial to this group of actors, because “it makes the theatre family more open and fun,” says Maggie Mustion, “and it has allowed more opportunity for people of all grade levels to be leads.”
“It is a new experience and it’s great to have another person to watch them explore aspects of the character you may be missing,” says her counterpart, Victoria Fanning.
Both of them explain that this double casting also has brought them closer than ever.
“Working with two casts makes me a better actor, because it allows for more rehearsal time as well as being able to perform in two different versions,” Steven Blenner says.
Blenner is one of four actors without a counterpart in this show and the only member of this cast to have performed in every MHS Theatre production since his freshman year.
While he is happy with his role, “I sometimes wish I could have an opportunity to just watch the other cast. But I don’t wish I was double-casted.”
But why twin casts? After all it has been nearly 10 years since Morristown High School last tried this approach. So why now?
“We have so much talent in our theater program! The theater program is growing in size and we didn’t want to cut any of the people we knew would be great in the show,” explains director Maguire, an MHS alum.
In fact, the last production that was double casted was Once Upon a Mattress (2005), in which Maguire himself played Sir Harry, a role that was given to Hugh Grennan in Morristown High School’s rendition this past spring.
And while Maguire himself did not have a counterpart, he still found it to be a wonderful idea.
“I’m looking forward to seeing this hilarious production come together. The set is going to be beautiful. The actors are so talented. And there are even some special effects. This is a not-to-be-missed production!”
If you want to witness these incredible casts’ talent and this amazing crew’s work, get your tickets now — you will not want to miss this amazing show!
No matter which cast you see, you are guaranteed an exciting, hilarious, surprising, and captivating experience. Performances are as follows:
- Thursday, Nov. 17 at 7 pm
- Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 pm
- Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7 pm
- Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2 pm
Tickets are available at www.mhs.booktix.com
Alexandra Monfalcone, Megan Frederick and Michelle Bertram are students at Morristown High School.
