By Hiba Rashid, student reporter
Photos by Mr. Shibata (view event photo album)
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| East-West students spelling S-U-C-C-E-S-S! |
On May 25th and 26th, East-West held a production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! Ms. Hartong was responsible for directing the production with the help of our students. There were hours and hours of effort and rehearsing before opening night! Two auditions were held before rehearsal officially began. Nearly 60 students auditioned for 25 roles. It was difficult to make decisions, especially since our students were so passionate about acting and singing.
This play was chosen because the characters reflect the personalities of the East-West students; they’re dedicated and have a desire to succeed. Also, the comedy and the music in the play is fun!
Rehearsal began in January and it was held every Thursday for about three hours. But as the show dates grew closer, rehearsal was held for nearly 6 hours a week. The last rehearsal on May 24th was the longest one, it lasted from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. All these hours of practice clearly paid off because opening night was a success!
Thirty minutes before the show began, seats had begun to fill up in the audience. Everyone was excited to watch this long awaited performance by our students. The play began with a brief introduction of the plot and characters, followed by numerous songs and dances. Each character’s personality began to unveil through the show and stood out uniquely.
The audience smiled with excitement as actors and backstage crew hurried to make the show perfect for them.
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| The response to opening night was a full house! |
A few minutes into the play, the actors were singing and dancing. It was really enjoyable to see our students’ confidence to not only act but even sing in front of a large audience. Each song told a story about the characters and made the performance all the more interesting.
From the dialogues to the movements and attitude, this musical was a comedy. But it incorporated a variety of emotions. The audience responded with empathy and laughter.
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| William Ma as William Barfee with a "Magic Foot" spelling technique |
Excitement began to rise in the audience with the use of special elements used in the performance such as outrageous songs, candy throwing, and random appearances on stage.
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| Greyson Soukup as Chip Tolentino |
These audience interactions left everyone in awe and inspired them to encourage their fellow peers on stage. It made the show feel like even the audience was part of it. Some actors improvised in parts of the play, which created a more realistic setting for the play itself. Despite a few technical difficulties, the students continued to embrace their characters and led the show on till the end.
By the end of the night, the audience went home with satisfied smiles. Many even whispered about looking forward to the future East-West plays.
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| Full cast at the final number |
We thank our students for all the effort they put into making the play a success and Ms. Hartong for giving them an opportunity to express their talents. Everyone really put on a great show!
View the full photo album here and leave your comments for the cast on this post!
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| Londel Collier, soloist. From School Musical 2011 |
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| Spelling bee. From School Musical 2011 |
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| Sharon Chang. From School Musical 2011 |
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| Timmera Brown. From School Musical 2011 |
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| Talia Morales, soloist. From School Musical 2011 |
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| Ms. Hartong (center), drama teacher and director. From School Musical 2011 |
THE 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Cast List
Name and Role/Part
John Eckartz: Mitch Mahoney
Talia Morales: Soloist/Olive’s Mom/Rona LEAD
Greyson Soukup: Chip Tolentino
Priya Chohan: Olive Ostrovsky
Sharon Chang: Logaine Schwartz
William Ma: William Barfee
Alejandro Sanchez: Leaf Coneybear
Londel Collier: Soloist/ Olive’s Dad
Kevin Hassan: Vice Principal Panch LEAD
Timerra Brown: Marcy Park
Nathan Gomez: Jesus
The Spellers ( The Chorus)
Mina Cheung
Jae Cheong
Taichi White
Nalya Veloz
Anaya Phoenix
Saphya Council
Ting Li
Leigh Singer
Katherine Colindres
Raven Waters
Backstage Crew
Director: Ms. Hartong
Stage Manager: Martha Colindres
Stage Manager: Kwaku Oware-Addai
Assistant Stage Manager: Shan Chen
Lights and Curtain: Onyeka Morka
Costume and Makeup: Elizabeth Vallejo
Program Designer: Ketorah Harris
Sound Engineer: Vincent Mc Bean
Assistant Sound Engineer: Andre