Students dress up to stage a mature ‘Dinner’
Maddy Holstein grabbed a flat-head brush and using a pale compact foundation applied a thick base coat on a 10th-grader’s forehead.
“We’re just going to age your face,” the stage director and makeup artist said while pushing his hair back and creating fine lines.
The rehearsal backstage Tuesday night at the Academy for the Performing Arts theater department at Huntington Beach High School was the transformation of high school students into middle-aged adults.
Six actors enrolled in the Academy for the Performing Arts will perform in the department’s production of Neil Simon’s play “The Dinner Party” for its annual fundraiser, running Thursday through Sunday. With direction and assistant direction by academy alumnae Holstein and Angelica Stramer, respectively, the show will highlight the talent of the department’s current students and the success of its graduates.
Holstein and Stramer, who were both theater students, performed in plays directed by academy Chairman Robert Rotenberry and teacher Earl Byers. After assistant-directing last year’s fundraiser show, “Black Comedy,” Holstein, 21, decided to lead the show this year. Stramer, who assistant-directed last season’s main stage play, “Runaways,” was eager for the opportunity to share her passion for the arts with the students.
“I like spreading my knowledge of theater to the kids,” she said. “It’s fun to help these kids do something they love.”
Holstein said she selected Simon’s one-act comedy about marriage and divorce because she is a fan of his writing.
“I really love Neil Simon,” Holstein said. “He’s one of the greatest American playwrights.”
The plot revolves around six guests who have been invited to dine at an exclusive restaurant in Paris. Unbeknown to them, the six form three divorced couples and were invited to reflect on their past relationships with the hope that they may sort out their problems.
Simon, married five times, traced his experiences to provide the makings of the farce, including the analyzing of relationships.
Holstein said the greatest challenge for her was having juniors and seniors play older people.
“They are barely 18, and they haven’t personally dealt with a relationship ending in divorce and marriage,” she said. “But I got some really great kids. We definitely had to go through maturing up their movements.”
That meant no swinging of arms while walking.
For five weeks, the cast analyzed character descriptions and prepared to get into character mind-sets.
Senior Katie Peterson, who has performed in the Academy for the Performing Arts since freshman year, will play Yvonne Fouchet, a thirtysomething woman who married, divorced and remarried the same man.
“I drew inspiration from Baby Spice from the Spice Girls because she’s dopey and driven,” Peterson said. “I’m used to playing old characters since sophomore year. It’s second nature.”
Junior Jacob Menke, who plays Claude Pichon, said his recent performance as a similarly aged character in “It Runs in the Family” didn’t make his role in “The Dinner Party” too jarring, but he found one aspect of playing a 40-year-old bookshop owner difficult — he had to learn how to be sarcastic without coming off as too mean.
Junior Alyssa Hall said nailing every joke in Simon’s one-line style was the hardest part of playing party hostess Gabrielle Buonocelli.
The play was an opportunity for senior Nicholas Stenseng to serve as student assistant director after performing in the program for four years. Stenseng, who plans to major in political science in college, said he would be happy to return to the campus and direct, but college is his first priority.
And senior Finn Mitchel, who moved from Chicago, said joining the academy this year has been a positive in his life.
“Everyone’s fantastic,” he said while Holstein brushed gray dye into his hair. “I’ve met a really great group of people.”
Holstein said this will be the last show she directs before leaving for cosmetology school at Golden West College. She hopes to pass on to students the knowledge that each director does things differently.
And Holstein also has something she hopes the audience takes away from the play:
“We can all get to know each other and communicate on a civil level.”
If You Go
What: “The Dinner Party”
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Academy for the Performing Arts Studio Theatre, 1905 Main St., Huntington Beach
Cost: $25
Information: (714) 536-2514, Ext. 4025, or hbapa.org