No drama teacher? No problem: High school students make sure their show will go on
Sabrina Vonbogenberg, in black, falls into the lap of Vita Mucci as they rehearse for their fall production “The Mouse Trap,” at Newport Harbor High. The students arranged rehearsals, costumes, props and set to complete the production after their teacher left at the end of the prior school year.
Like the plot line for a teen drama about a spunky group of kids forced to organize the school play so the show can go on, students at Newport Harbor High have had to rely on themselves to create the theater schedule for the upcoming year and to get the first production underway.
The previous drama teacher left before the start of summer after a year at the school. Newport Harbor hired art teacher Alesandra Krause-Esquivel to take over this year but before she could take charge, some decisions had to be made and that’s when the school’s drama students took the reins.
During the summer is when the year’s productions are chosen, rights secured, administration approval achieved and theater space reserved. The students also took responsibility for directing, costumes and makeup for the first play of the year.
They chose to put on “The Mousetrap.” Students didn’t just stop with the play, they opted for a dinner-theater event held in the Black Box Theatre.
Taking on the role of director is junior Chris Surridge, who has been performing for Newport Harbor since his freshman year.
“I don’t do plays necessarily for the acting but because I love making the memories,” Chris said. “One thing I’ve learned from this experience is the importance of organization. Scheduling rehearsals with high school students and balancing school work on top of that is no easy feat.”
Over summer, Chris and around 15 other juniors and seniors, who have been in multiple Newport Harbor productions, selected the plays and musicals for the year. Productions will include “Pygmalion” and “The Addams Family.”
“To do these plays, we have to get the rights in advance and reserve the space in the theater, so we needed to work fast,” Chris said. “Our school administration gave us the go-ahead to choose our productions when we had no teacher because we know who we are and we know what shows we can pull off.”
After the students distributed roles in the eight-person play, they began holding rehearsals at each other’s houses during the summer.
Krause-Esquivelhas been teaching drawing and painting at Newport Harbor for five years.
She applied for the vacant role in July.
“Our principal is very supportive of the drama program and we had a conversation about the opportunity when it opened up,” she said. “Even though I’m starting from scratch, I’m here to support the students. I’m so impressed with the work they’ve put into this play.”
Krause-Esquivel will instruct drama and theater while also teaching her art classes at Newport Harbor.
She will take on the responsibility in the rest of the year’s productions of hiring directors and finding costumes but “The Mousetrap” will continue to be student run.
The group has picked out costumes, props and sets for the murder-mystery play, set in the 1940s.
Junior Audrey Stroth is in charge of doing the makeup for cast members — a perfect fit for the student whose specialty is gore.
She finds tips and inspiration for creating bloody and wounded looks on YouTube and Instagram.
“I can make looks for burns, lacerations, missing arms and a lot of other things,” Audrey said. “For the character who dies in the play, I’m creating things like pale skin, bruising on the neck and a broken nose.”
To pull off the dinner part of the evening, the drama students struck a partnership with their peers in Newport Harbor’s Culinary Arts Academy. The young chefs are planning to whip up lasagna and dessert for the audience to eat during the show.
“A friend of mine is in the show and she asked over summer if we wanted to cater the event,” culinary arts student Natalia Tortorello said. “We’ve wanted to get involved with another group on campus for a long time and this was the perfect opportunity.”
Student waiters at the dinner theater will wear army uniforms from the school’s costume storage and vintage dresses that Audrey’s mother collects. All attire is circa 1940s.
“We decided to make this a dinner theater because we wanted to make our audience feel like they’re in the ‘40s,” Newport Harbor junior and drama student Sam Wertheimer said.
The Black Box Theatre will accommodate 41 people at each performance.
Newport Harbor will present “The Mousetrap” at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 and 3 at the high school, 600 Irvine Ave. in Newport Beach. Admission is $25 for adults and $15 for students.