Middle School Students Tackle Twain's "Connecticut Yankee"

Everyone knows knights are better than days, including the students performing Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

As with the classic novel, the piece takes place in two time periods, present day and 528 A.D., Drama Club Director and Literacy Teacher Barbara Doyle said. For many members of the cast, it’s also their first experience with a theater production.

“Getting off book, remembering blocking, functioning in the beautiful costumes, designed and built by our own Diane Sireci, presented quite a challenge for the first timers,” Doyle said. “They have to be reminded to stay focused on the other actors in a scene and not look up when trying to remember a line. As well, I can sometimes see them mouthing the lines of the other actors while waiting to deliver theirs.”

There’s also a delicate balance that comes with schoolwork, rehearsals, other activities, and the inevitable sicknesses that happen each fall and winter. Since the students audition in September, begin rehearsing before school, and then transfer to after school rehearsals in December, they’re reconciling schedules that span both early mornings and after school obligations.

“These young men and women are just beginning to understand the need to find balance between school work and extracurricular activities,” Doyle said. “On top of that, this is cold and flu season. Missed school means missed school work and missed school work means missed assignments and examinations for which accounting is needed. Schoolwork must come first so that means missed rehearsals. It becomes a balancing act for us as well.

“Aspects of this process can be daunting for all those involved; however, it is wonderful preparation for real life,” she added.

Doyle’s allowed more this year’s cast more freedom too, since many students have no prior theater experience. As a result, Doyle said she used an organic approach to each scene, allowing the students to establish scene set-up, and tweaking areas that did not work visually.

The show features two casts—one of principal actors and another of understudies—that creates two different cast personalities within a single production, Doyle said.

“If you want to audition for our Drama Club production, you will get a chance to be in this show,” Doyle said. “Every individual who is cast in this show will be given a line, even if I have to write it myself. We are an all-inclusive program and never turn anyone away without cause. Since we do have an understudy performance, a student’s hard work never goes unutilized.”

The production appeals to the school’s Mark Twain fans, which includes several members of the school staff. For the cast members, the draw is both understanding the characters they act out, and experiencing another time period.

“I think the cast really like becoming individuals other than themselves and presenting characters from a different time period helps bring out parts of their personalities that are not often seen by others,” Doyle said.

The shows are scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 6 and Jan. 7), with an understudy performance 2 p.m. Sunday (Jan.8), in the Hillsborough Middle School Annex Cafeteria. Tickets are $6 and can be purchased ten minutes before the performance—at 6:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:50 p.m. Sunday.

“Enrichment is important but often costs and arm and a leg,” Doyle said. “This is an opportunity for enrichment of young people in our community that is local and affordable. Even the items in our concession area are less than they are at the movies.”