WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Hillsdale Academy Play: The Pirates of Penzance

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Join Lauren Scott as she interviews Kathryn Wales, serving as acting coach of the Hillsdale Academy play The Pirates of Penzance. We will also hear from Thomas Holmand and Evelyn Gray, two stars of the play. 

You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lauren Scott, and today I am joined by Mrs. Wales and two students at Hillsdale Academy. And they are going to talk to me about an upcoming musical that the Academy is putting on. Mrs. Wales is the, acting director and evie and thomas are two of the stars in the musicals so start off by introducing yourselves and then telling me a little bit about how practice has been going for the musical um i'll go first i'm evy i am the lead so my character's name is mabel she is a fearless victorian girl and practice has been very fun playing her i've been working a lot on my singing skills. The production is an operetta, and so there's so much singing, but it's been very satisfying to work on the music and get it down, and I'm very excited to perform it.

All right, I'm Thomas Holm. I play the police sergeant in the production. He is a lovely character who loves putting on a brave face in front of everyone, but is in reality scared of his own shadow. And then when you bring the bloodthirsty pirates onto the scene, and that leads to rather amusing shouts of terror from him. Practice has gone pretty well. My ensemble is the smallest, so it's actually been the easiest to coordinate around. We've been looking pretty solid,

though it definitely feels sometimes like every time we think we've learned the entire play, there's an entire scene we haven't blocked out yet. Thomas really stood out as the student who knew the play best before we got started. I think, right? You liked it as a kid, didn't you? Yeah, I saw it here at the college several years ago.

Yeah, what year was that? I missed it. And I heard about it for months and even years after it. And I thought, I can't believe I missed Pirates of Ben's Dance. It was this huge community event. So it's been in my head for a long time that that would be a good one to do at the Academy since it was so popular with the college community. Yeah. But I'm not directing.

I am the acting coach for this one. I typically direct the Shakespeare shows that we do and some of the, sometimes called straight plays, just the dramas, the theatrical dramas rather than musical plays. And it's been great to get to kind of take a back seat and not to have all the responsibility of the show. Watching Gail Maury direct this has been a real learning experience for me. She knows the show so well. She loves it. She can sing the whole thing. I sometimes think we should just film her doing the entire show.

show by yourself, that should be like a YouTube sensation. It would be pretty incredible. She could do it. So I get to work one-on-one with the students to help find their character and find, you know, just the little features that will bring it more to life and then give a lot of notes during show week because Mrs. Mallory is down in the pit. She's dealing with the music. So a lot of what I do is just correct things or just what's not working, what looks weird,

because I can't direct any of the music. I don't have that ability at all. I just know what it's like to be an audience member. And to prefer, you know, let's try that. Okay, that worked. That didn't. So that's my main role at this point. And then what kind of experience do you have with acting,

whether that be with Hillsdale Academy or just in general? I was bossing around my neighborhood friends from age five. And I call that directing place. I would read. I remember reading the ugly duckling and telling the kids in the neighborhood, including my brother, like, we're going to put this on. Like, here's your script, here your costumes, we're going to do it on the back deck. So that was kind of the beginning.

And then when I was in high school, I student directed shows. And then I directed also in South Bend when my husband was in grad school at Notre Dame. And I've been working at the Academy for eight years now as a drama teacher. And I would say this is in some ways the most challenging show we've done. I've never been involved in an operetta before. The music is really complex, and it's a huge cast. So trying to get all the pieces in place has been very acrobatic, I think, and Mrs. Mallory is just tireless in trying to work with everyone's schedules and fit in

rehearsal time wherever we can find it. But it all really comes together, show week, so we're excited. We move into the sock tonight. And then we rehearse most of the week and the evenings. And then we open on Friday. If people kind of know, if people kind of want to know what to expect with this musical, could you give like a small basic summary of what it's all about?

Yes. Pirates of Penzance begins on Frederick's 21st birthday. That part is being played by Henry Lindley. He's been in many, many shows over the years. He's having a lot of fun with it. When he's freed from his accidental apprenticeship to a band of pirates, he decides to stop being a pirate and live an honest life. And on his way from the pirate ship,

he meets a sweet girl named Mabel and her many sisters. Many, many, many sisters. Mabel and Frederick fall in love and plan to be married, but their plans are thwarted when the pirate king finds a loophole in Frederick's contract, which means that Frederick, might have a duty to return to the pirates. It's a comedy of errors which follows focusing on Frederick's bumbling attempts to decide

where his duty lies with Mabel or with the pirates. The subtitle of the play is it's called The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty. And so the whole thing is ridiculous, kind of mocking this sense of duty above everything. So as Mrs. Wales was talking about, it's a lot of Frederick being called to his duty here. and then called to his duty back where he was. And so it's all comedic, and none of it is very serious at all, but it's a wild time, and it's just super funny. So if you come to this show, expect a comedy, it's going to be amazing.

Yeah, it's a very family-friendly show, and it's a great introduction to opera for those who are new to that art form. And it's just an enjoyable event for anybody who wants to come laugh. How would you say your production would be, different or similar from other productions of this musical? I mean, what's amazing is that these students really are, they're excellent in lots of ways. So the fact that we can pull off a show on this kind of timeline

is a testament to how kind of attuned they are and just there's a lot of talent all around. And so I think that the academy is able to pull this off in a way that's quite unusual. Yeah, I'd say like, I don't know, I've watched a few versions on YouTube, just to get a sense of what it is. I've definitely seen it played in different ways. One thing that I think we can get that will be different than some of the versions I've seen is once it all comes together, we're so close because our school is so small, and we're a tight-knit community. So that sense of camaraderie and doing it together and that sense,

sense of fun in the musical, I think that can set our show apart from a lot of other shows. Because sometimes you watch it and you're like, they are just going through the motions. And I think that we will be able to pull it off and have the energy to keep the momentum of the show through the entire thing. And I think that will be really distinctive about our production. Yeah, I agree. There are a lot of times where it's just really easy to act with the other characters because you know him so well. A lot of us have known each other for like 10 years more, lived in the same town all our lives,

which makes for a really nice dynamic among the cast. And both of you are such leaders in the school. I've really seen that. They're both seniors, so this is their last show, and the way that Evie leads the daughters and Thomas leads the policemen, it's, I mean, I just, knowing that they're at the helm

in each of their ensembles has really given me a lot of people, piece. Tell me a little bit about the characters you two are playing, what you like about that, and how you might have been challenged through these characters. Well, so this is actually, I have not performed nearly as much as Evie has. This is only my fourth role in high school. I started acting as a junior. And this is like the only comedic role I've ever played.

including in the comedy that we did a couple years back. So it's definitely different in many ways. But it's also made fairly easy by the fact that my character is just completely over the top. So when I'm asking myself about an acting choice I have to make, it's basically, is it more ridiculous than what I was doing before? And if the answer is yes, it's probably a good call to make. Lots of slapstick with the police. Yeah, you're especially physical.

And I can see your track skills coming through in the way you play this character. Yeah, I've had a few scary moments with, oh, shoot, am I actually going to pull this off? Nope, ow. Yeah, for me, it's been really fun to play Mabel. Again, I'm also fairly new to acting. I started as a sophomore.

And so this is one of my newer shows, I guess. But I would say Mabel has been challenging for me particularly in the comedic aspect of it. It is kind of the first main comedic role that I've had. And Mabel's difficult to play because she's comedic because she takes herself so seriously, but everything she's taking seriously is completely ridiculous. Because the whole show is very parody-esque.

There's like Frederick and Mabel being in love is very much a parody of the true love at first sight trope that you see all over the place. And so for me, just figuring out how to let go of myself and kind of put myself into the character and just go for it has been challenging but also really good. I'm thankful for the chance to develop my skills as an actress in that way. So the last production that Hillsdale Academy did was Romeo and Juliet, which seemed to be a little bit more of a serious production. There were a lot of serious themes that were a lot of people may say very plicable for high schoolers to put on that play knowing that Romeo and Juliet were so young. And so my question for you guys is, what do you think are the benefits of doing both serious productions but also a little bit more lighthearted ones and funny ones such as this one?

The human life is a whole range of emotions. And so for me, I really love drama, which is so interesting. to get super shy in front of people, but now I just love acting and performing. So, I don't know, like Romeo and Juliet, I didn't have a super big role in that, but I was involved as a student director's helper. And so just being able to deal with painful or deep or seemingly untouchable subjects through theater can be a really beautiful way to communicate truth and beauty. But then at the same time, you have shows like Pirates of Penzance where it's more skill, like singing talent based. And a ton of dancing. And so much dancing. And just all these

other, like it's the two sides of theater, right? You have tragedy and comedy. And so for Romeo and Julia, it was a lot about emotion and communicating through the art form of theater. And for this, it's more communicating like the joy of life. I don't know. Like for me, when I'm on that stage, I'm just going to be trying to help the audience feel how joyful I am to be on there and in this and singing. And so I guess theater is you need both sides in order to experience not only different

styles of acting or different aspects of performance, but just as a person. It's really a neat thing to be involved. in both sides of it. Romeo and Juliet was our first tragedy at the school. I mean, the crucible was, I mean, dark as well, but you can't really call it a tragedy because of the way that it ends. It's more like a martyrdom.

And so it's been good to have the balance this year, having the fall tragedy and then spring comedy and yeah, as Evie said, try on all of these different human emotions and just to play, just to have a lot of fun together on the stage. Romeo and Juliet was a lot of fun, but just in such a different way. All of you guys can speak to this question, but what has been your favorite part of this entire process? And what are you most looking forward to? I don't know. I've really loved trying to find ways.

to make my scenes more funny. That's always really enjoyable because it involves not just acting on my own, but also look up a ton of YouTube videos, see how other actors have played the role gone. Oh, I really like that. And then, like, no, I don't really like that. That's not very funny.

And then just kind of like meshing everything together in a way that hopefully will make the crowd laugh quite a lot, which is probably what I'm looking forward to most performing. And the tap dancing. Oh, the tap dancing is blast. The policemen are all tap dancing, and it's so funny. It's wonderful. That might be one of my favorite parts, actually,

like not related to my character, just seeing them tap dance. For me, I'd say my favorite part, I honestly don't know. I guess the dancing. As the lead singer, like one of the main female leads, I don't dance a whole lot, but whenever I do, it always gives me such joy. And so even like the scene that introduces the daughters, we're just all kind of in a big clump and there's no one really standing out. And so we all do the same dance and learning that and practicing it and doing it.

Also, my sister is in the cast as well. And so doing it with her has been just such a fun time. So I'm looking forward to being able to do some more dancing on stage than I have been before. When are the performances and where can people buy tickets? Our shows are this Friday, April 19th at 7 p.m. And Saturday, April 20th at both 2 o'clock p.m. and 7 p.m. Our shows are at the Sock Theater in Jonesville. And the best way to get tickets, you can get them at the door, but it may be preferred that you get them online because they are starting to sell

pretty quickly, and I have the address for you for that. It's Hillsdale Academy Presents. Dot ludus.com, L-U-D-U-S. So there's $7. You can get them ahead of time or at the door. I'll say that address again. Hillsdale Academy Presents. Dot ludis.com.

And again, we're in Jonesville, this Friday and Saturday in the evening at 7 p.m. And then a matinee on Saturday at 2 o'clock. And is there anything else you would like to let our listeners know or you want the audience to know before they see the performance? Expect to laugh a lot. Like I've said before, it's all ridiculous and all wonderfully fun. So come and see it if you can. I would love to share this production with you all.

I just want to say one more thing about Thomas because he wasn't able to be with us on Saturday because he was in a quiz bowl tournament, which he rocked. But he trained his understudy so well that, I mean, I think Zane Soha was really stealing the show. And I just thought like, Thomas has really invested in this guy. And it was just really beautiful to me to get a sense of the mentorship that you have been able to provide him. And that kid is going places.

Oh, yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate you guys taking the time. out of your day. You have been listening to an interview with Mrs. Wales, Hillsdale Academy's acting director for its new musical and two of the musical stars, Evie and Thomas. I'm Lauren Scott on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.