Wednesday, November 2, 2005
"Have fun," Mr. Proctor said as he finished his remarks to Wednesday's Grade Level meeting. He had just finished reminding all of us that the Fall Play started today and ran through Saturday, the Varsity Girls were playing for the ILH championship on Thursday at Iolani at 4:30 p.m. and the Varsity Football team was playing for the ILH Division II championship on Friday at Iolani at 3:15 p.m. "Get out to one of them, if you can. The students appreciate seeing you at their events. And have fun."
Since I planned to attend all three events, today was my day to watch the play, "Long Ago and Far Away," a collection of 7 one-act plays, directed by David Saito '93. I actually was looking forward to the Fall play because I knew about half the students either performing on or working behind the stage. If the plays were not enjoyable, at least, to paraphrase Mr. Proctor, the students would see me at their event.
Much to my delight, once the plays began, I laughed for over two hours. What caught my attention over and over again was how well cast each play was. There was not a weak actor on stage. Each person exuded a special panache, which helped move his or her play along.
I especially liked the actors in the last play, "All's Well that Ends Wrong," Marisa Chung '07, Lucy Liu '07, Erin Taketa '08, Ally Harada, '10 and Marisa Wang '08. Each of the five college students' performances as they tried to study for a mid-term exam was absolutely spot on and hilariously funny. It wasn't acting; this was how these girls behaved in real life, or so it seemed.
My next favorite play was "Soap Opera," again perfectly cast and well directed. The pace and comic timing of the actors made the play a thoroughly enjoyable experience. All of the actors from the French restaurant receptionist, Sami Tasaki '09, the washing machine repairman, Burch Godwin '08, to Mabel, Alicia Yurong '08 and the washing machine, you have got to see it to believe it, Sala Sataraka '07 were stellar.
Those two plays alone were worth the price of admission, but there was more.
In my mind, seeing Christian Brady, '08 and Wes Griswold '06 perform on stage were also special treats. In "One Tennis Shoe," Wes accuses Sylvia, Alana Calhoun '09, that she is turning into a bag lady and her denial of the accusations only worsens her situation, but who prevails at the end?
Christian and David Kojima '07 as well as Nicole Ha '07 and Lucy Dolly Caires '06 work smoothly as they duplicate each other's activities in "Enigma Variations."
Maggie Cannell '07 and Christian share the stage in "English Made Simple" which requires Alicia Yurong '08 to help the audience really understand what these two lovebirds are saying to each other.
That leaves two other plays: "When Shakespeare's Ladies Meet" and "Seven Menus". In these, 13 performers had key roles, yet only four were old-timers. The 9 students making their acting debut performed as seasoned veterans. Because their crisp delivery, good acting skills and comic timing was so smooth, the audience chuckled its way through both plays.
On my way home, I realized that there was another layer to Mr. Proctor's message at the Grade Level meeting. In this case, it wasn't so much that the students appreciated seeing us, teachers, at their play, but rather that we could see our students in the play. By doing so, their performances rewarded us with two happy, relaxing hours of comedy.
Indeed - go to the play and "have fun."
