Drama program to hold student-directed plays

Courtesy of Cosmo Cooper

The school’s Comedy Improv Troupe competes for laughs during the ComedySportz show

The drama program is hosting two student-directed productions this semester: “Suite Surrender,” a play directed by senior Ryan Cagliostro and “Title of Show,” a musical directed by senior Ashly Henry. 

The cast members of the drama program are preparing for the shows by rehearsing parts of the 90-minute play for an hour during tutorials and after school on Blue Days. Both shows, “Suite Surrender” and “Title of Show”, will be performed in the Thermond Drama Center on Dec. 7 and Dec. 9, respectively.

“Title of Show” is a musical revolving around four struggling playwrights, Susan, Hunter, Heidi and Jeff, who enter a script into the Broadway competition. The unexpected twist is that the script is about what happens to the writers themselves as they write their script. The four playwrights are played by sophomore Mia Ouchida as Susan, Venkatram as Hunter, junior Niraali Garg as Heidi and sophomore Benny Mercurio as Jeff.

For auditions, students prepared a monologue and selected a one-minute of a song of their choice to sing in front of Henry, who chose the cast. 

“Suite Surrender,” a comedic play set in the summer of 1942 in Palm Springs, revolves around two famous actresses — Claudia McFadden, played by senior Margaret Laver, and Athena Sinclair, played by sophomore Nila Venkataratnam — who loathe each other and end up in the same hotel to help raise funds for World War II. Conflicts and chaos occur as the hotel staff realizes that the two have been put in the same suite.

In a story with harsh feelings of hatred and characters with snobby personalities that differ from modern standards for respect, the cast members have found themselves trying to accurately express their characters.

“It’s just trying to connect with the characters and really get the story portrayed through those characters’ emotions,” Cagliostro said.