By Amy Keum
Staff Writer
Directors running long rehearsals, casts working to memorize lines, and crews training to complete their tasks in minimal time are all part of the work that goes into competitive theater. With the competition season growing near, the pressure comes to a boiling point as teams work to perfect their act. Westford Academy Theater Arts has been recently presenting their competition piece Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez, Directed by Theater Arts Director Michael Towers.
Westford Academy has not only been performing the show, but they have also been entered in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild where they will be put up against 120 other schools. The competition takes place over three rounds. There are the preliminaries, the semi-finals, and the finals. As the winner of last year’s competition, WA has the honor of hosting the semi-finals this year on March 9.
WA has been a strong competitor in the last few years. In five out of the last six years, the department has succeeded in making it to finals and three out of the four last years, they have grabbed first place. The program is strong, and they aren’t concerned about losing their streak any time soon.
“Our department is leaner. Our numbers aren’t as big as they once were. But we are very strong, very solid. We have a lot of talented actors; talented and deserving, ‘cause you gotta be both” said Towers.
Towers is confident not only in his cast, but also in the play in itself. When choosing the play, he had many things to keep in mind.
“One I gotta love it, two its gotta make me think; has to be a possibility for me to challenge the audience to do the same thing, and three, it has to be relevant to our community,” said Towers.
Sonia Flew is a play written by a Boston area playwright, Melinda Lopez, and it is set in two time periods. 2001 in Minnesota is where the first act takes place and 1961 in Havana, Cuba is where the second act unfolds. The play focuses on the protagonist Sonia, played by Senior Michelle Torto, as she struggles with her son who has recently told her that he is enlisted to go to war after the events of 9/11. Sonia experiences anxiety as she wrestles with her own plight from Cuba forty years earlier when she was sent away against her own will on her 15th birthday in the phenomenon known as the Pedro Pan Children where 15,000 children were sent fleeing from Cuba.
“It’s a story that explores two significant historical events, but it is a fictional play.” said Towers.
The historical foundation of the play gave the actors a factual base to start working on, helping the process of getting into character.
“Well, immediately I felt a strong connection to this show, because my great grandparents, grandparents, and my aunt all came over from Cuba in 1959. The way I personally get into character has to do a lot with background and historical information.” said Torto.
There were also many challenges for the actors when it came to connecting to their character’s emotions and actions. For some, it was a gap in the age difference. Senior Nathan Rigione, playing the character Sam, had to find ways to adjust.
“My character is between his late 60s to early 70s, so to become Sam, I’ve been paying much more attention to how elderly men move and react physically to external stimuli,” said Rigione.
For others, the challenge came, not in the sense of age, but in the sense of manner. Nick Nudler, playing the part of Orfeo, Sonia’s father, had a harder time adjusting to the emotions of his character.
“Getting into character in this show has been particularly tough for me as I am a generally gentle person, while this man is a true man of violence and violent passions,” said Nudler.
While the play itself involves a lot of violence, it does not actually contain much physical violence, but instead emotional violence which the team hopes the audience will be able to relate to.
“Both of the homes […] are being ripped apart. A 15 year old daughter being taken from her mother on the night her 15th birthday, that’s violent, that’s volatile, that’s dangerous. If it’s a play about war, it’s about psychological war,” said Towers.
To help the cast get acquainted with the emotions of Cuba in the 1950’s, Towers had the actors watch a documentary about the kids who were sent over and followed the lives of a few men and women.
“The documentary put into perspective some of the horrific things these kids had to go through all by themselves,” said Torto.
While keeping to the gritty details of the piece, Towers also made some drastic changes. The play originally was supposed to be supported by a 6 member cast, each playing two parts. Towers however, made the decision to cast 11 actors instead. “I wanted to create as many opportunities that I can. The one character that is doubled is Sonia. It’s not scripted but I wanted to keep the connection. I knew I’d be doing a real injustice to the play if I didn’t keep the connectivity between the two acts,” said Towers.
While the competition season grows near, although there is sure to be a certain amount of anticipation, the cast and crew is more focused on the work and product than the reward.
“Truly, winning the competition has never been, and will never be the goal. A tremendous amount of love and work goes into these shows, and they would not be the same if we set out to win. Our goal is to make honest, beautiful art. As long as we know what we put up there is the best we have to offer, our rank in the competition does not matter. It sounds cheesy, but the immense pride that comes from being a part of something so big is winning in itself,” said senior Emily Brown, playing the part of Jen.
The play’s director and cast are expecting great things, if not from the competition, then from the hearts of the audiences as the emotional show takes the stage.
“It’s a play about forgiveness, it’s a play about generations, it’s a play about family, mothers and their sons and fathers and their daughters,” said Towers.
The semi-finals will take place March 2nd, and the next performance will be March 9th.
