Following the debuts of The Diary of Anne Frank and Les Miserables last year, both theatric works with heavy undertones, WJ S*T*A*G*E is determined to lighten the mood with the comedy Noises Off this fall.
Auditions took place during the second week of school, and saw close to 60 students come to try out for nine roles. Callbacks were the day after initial auditions and the final cast list was posted the weekend of Sept. 8-9. Thirteen people in total were cast; four of those roles were double-cast.
Senior Felice Amsellem has played leading characters in four of her five previous WJ productions, most recently the role of Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank, and Cosette in Les Miserables. This will be her sixth show at WJ. Although throughout her years of experience with S*T*A*G*E and performing Amsellem has become accustomed to the audition process, she said these auditions were a little different, partially due to the magnitude of people who auditioned. But Amsellem also felt the pressure of getting another lead role in Noises Off.
“People think ‘oh, you’re a veteran, you’ve been leads [in previous production], so of course you’re going to be a lead,’” said Amsellem. “But when you have that kind of reputation, you have to meet that standard.”
On the other hand, junior Coty Novak auditioned mainly for fun, and didn’t feel the pressure or high expectations that Amsellem did. A relative newbie to S*T*A*G*E, Novak’s first WJ production was Les Miserables in the spring of his sophomore year, as a part of the ensemble. Novak says that he was uncertain coming into auditions.
“I knew that I had some capacity for acting, but I wasn’t sure how well I could do compared to all the other accomplished actors at this school,” he said. “Everyone at the audition was great. I don’t think there was a single bad person there.”
Somewhere in between Novak and Amsellem is senior Defne Dilsiz, who, like Amsellem, felt the pressure to perform, but like Novak, is relatively new to the S*T*A*G*E scene. Though she has close to eight years of theatre experience, this is only her third show at WJ, and she was a lead in both of her previous shows.
“People around you just kind of expect you to get a lead, [they] expect you to get a certain part,” she said, adding that there is more pressure at WJ than at local theatre, mainly because at WJ, everyone knows each other.
Novak explains that nobody in the cast chose the part for which they would audition, in the final stages. Initially, the people auditioning were split up into groups, where each group was given a scene. Each member of that group then chose a role in that scene to read. A select number of people were called back, and Colleen McAdory, the play’s director, chose who would read for each part during callbacks.
But the play itself is quite different than anything WJ has done before, according to Amsellem. While The Importance of Being Earnest, performed during the 2010-2011 school year, was also a British comedy, Noises Off is quite different in its manner, which is sexual and crude in humor. Amsellem believes that this factor should attract more people to the show.
“Even though more people come to the musicals, so many people would enjoy this show because there are all those innuendos and sexual whatever,” she said. “It’s definitely different from a lot of other shows that we do, because we’re kind of pushing that boundary of sexual humor in high school.”
The play is actually a play within a play: the plot of Noises Off revolves around a group of cast members and a director, who are all scrambling to put their play together in time for opening night, on Broadway. However, the cast has not had much time to rehearse. That fact combined with the personalities of the characters lead to an interesting and comical experience when everything starts to go wrong, according to Novak.
“[Noises Off is] about a bunch of people trying and failing rather spectacularly to make a British play,” he said. “It’s hilarious to see them all fail.”
Dilsiz agrees with Novak, adding that as time goes on, the set becomes more chaotic.
“There’s a lot of times when there’s props being thrown across the stage, and everyone starts sabotaging each other on stage,” she said. “All I can say is that the set is insane, the characters are insane and it’s just going to be crazy.”
In a production where the characters make the show, it’s important that the actors connect with their onstage personalities. All the students casted in Noises Off are required to speak in British accents.
Novak plays Garry in Noises Off, who portrays Roger in the play. Novak describes his character, Garry, as eager and overexcited. However, Garry also has some faults.
“When he has a script, he delivers his lines perfectly with total quality and precision, but when he has to make things up for himself, when he’s trying to speak, he can never finish a sentence,” said Novak. “He always just seems to forget where his thoughts are going. And that always leads to awkward pauses and him saying ,’well, you know what I mean.'”
But despite Garry’s flaw, Novak is still excited to play him.
“I do [like Garry]. I mean, he’s really stupid, [and] I wouldn’t exactly call him a nice guy, but he’s a well intentioned guy, and he’s really hilarious even though he does not mean to be,” he added.
On the other hand, Amsellem’s character, Brooke, who plays Vicki in the play, is eccentric in different ways. She describes her as unintelligent, a trait that may seem easy to act out, but is, in fact, difficult.
“Playing a ‘dumb’ role is not as easy as some people think it is, just because if you’re not actually dumb, which I hope I’m not, you have to act like you are,” she said, adding that she is excited to play such a fun role. “I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily alike, but I have my ‘Brooke’ moments.”
Amsellem also added that Brooke/Vicki spends the majority of the play in her underwear, which will mark a first for Amsellem on stage.
“That’s going to be an interesting experience for the adults in the audience, mainly my parents, and teachers,” she said. “But it’s really fun, I mean you don’t really run around in your underwear in front of people, normally.”
Dilsiz says that fellow senior and S*T*A*G*E veteran Lital Firestone, with whom she was double cast, is much more similar to their character, Belinda, than she is. In the play within the play, Belinda plays Flavia.
“[Lital and I are] complete polar opposites, and she’s more like Belinda than I am, because Belinda’s likes to keep things very organized and she’s always very positive,” said Dilsiz. “It’s funny, because everyone was like ‘that’s not Defne, I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s definitely not her.”
While Amsellem says that the casting choices did not surprise her at all, Dilsiz disagrees. Usually playing the “out-there” roles, Dilsiz now plays a different kind of character, one that she says will help her develop her acting skills, in preparation for college, where she plans to major in drama.
Dilsiz adds that while many people find comedy to be an easy genre to act, it’s quite the opposite for her.
“The difference between this show and others is that everything has to be perfect, every single timing, every single cue, every single light, every single line,” she said. “If you don’t deliver in the way that it’s supposed to be delivered, it’s not going to be funny, and then the whole show is going to fall apart.”
But despite the difficulties that the new show may bring, Dilsiz is excited for opening night, on Nov. 9.
“I love the feeling right before you step off on stage because [of] the energy [backstage,]” she said. “Being on stage is a phenomenon in its own…[and] I actually feel more comfortable onstage, I feel more comfortable in front of, like, 2000 people than I do walking down the halls.”
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