The satirical play The Importance of Being Earnest came to Aragon’s Student Lunch Room (SLR), the first such performance by the Aragon drama department in the SLR. The SLR was transformed into a black box theater, where yards of thick black fabric covered the entirety of the room, blocking out all of the light. “It was an incredibly unique situation to work with and it was hard develop an appropriate set, but I think we have done a great job,” said play director Shane Smuin.
As the play had a nine person cast, the audition process was extremely competitive. For one, the entire cast had to speak in a British accent. “I was continuously practicing my British accent,” commented junior Kevin Dwyer, who played one of the leads.
The small cast and crew all struggled with not having access to the Aragon Theater, as the whole area is currently under construction. “We did not need too much space for this production, so it was fine rehearsing in Smuin’s room,” Dwyer remarked. The cast could not rehearse in the SLR, though, as it is generally in use, and only took over the room the week before the performance.
“The venue dictated what I could not do,” said Smuin. As the SLR is significantly smaller than the old Aragon Theater, Smuin was attracted to The Importance of Being Earnest since it had a small cast. Parent and student volunteers, along with the tech theater students all put up the black cloth that covered the entirety of the SLR to create the black box theater. “Principal Pat Kurtz told me it was the best use of the SLR ever,” laughed Smuin.
The Importance of Being Earnest centered on the ideas of love and marriage, as well as the question of identity. Cecily, played by sophomore Kira Brenner, falls in love with one of the protagonists, Algernon, portrayed by senior Sammy Shufton. Yet, she falls in love with his alter ego, who goes by the name of Earnest. Mitchell’s character has a strikingly similar situation, as she is in love with and engaged to a man she believes is named Earnest, and yet whose actual name is Jack, played by junior Kevin Dwyer. The play centers on these four characters and the various chaos that result because of Jack and Algernon’s actions.
Despite the black box theater’s slightly smaller size, many people showed up for the performances. Audience members sat in foldable chairs on raised platforms. “There were 87 seats, and generally about 60 of them were full each night,” commented Smuin.
On the performance, senior Mimi Lynde said “I thought it was really impressive that the tech crew transformed where I attended a college meeting like a couple days before into this black box theater!”
The props and black cloth were quickly taken down after the last performance on March 25. “What we usually do in a week we had to do in two days,” said Smuin. Now, the drama department is looking forward to using the new Aragon Theater this fall.
The original school’s infrastructure did not include an auditorium. As a consequence, the old Aragon theater was squeezed between the two gyms. This new theater will be the first space at Aragon designed specifically for the performing arts.
Though the theater is scheduled to be ready by the fall, Smuin is worried about the technical side of the theater. “It will be inhabitable, but the technical stuff will need ironing out, especially the acoustics and lighting,” he clarified.
The fall musical will hopefully be in November, but if the new theater is presents too many obstacles, the musical will take place in January of 2013. “The new theater will be equally different and exciting!” enthused Smuin.
