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Student actors ready to wow audiences with 'Cyrano,' 'Footloose'

Quinten Anderson (facing front, from left), Claire Urban and Christian Siebert practice for Wauwatosa East’s production of “Cyrano de Bergerac” while student director Holly Wilinski (seated) and assistant director Maddie Wilinski watch. Photo By Richard Romano

By Rick Romano

Nov. 1, 2011

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William Shakespeare said "the play's the thing," and so it is at Wauwatosa East and West this month.

The two high schools are offering diverse fall productions, from East's portrayal of "Cyrano de Bergerac" in an intimate black-box theater to West's performance of the raucous musical "Footloose," being presented to more than 850 audience members at a time.

Making Footloose

"We actually started over the summer with vocal and dance workshops for those who were interested in auditioning in September," West Director Tim Catlett said. "This has been a long-term commitment for many of the students."

Footloose will utilize more than 50 performers and about 100 total students, counting those behind the scenes.

Catlett said the production will follow the original 1980s movie story line about a clash of cultures over a small town's ban on dancing. While the clothing and hairstyles will be true to the era, the production will mix in some more modern styles of dance.

"It's a variation on the universal theme of 'what's wrong with these kids today?' " Catlett said. "It's kind of about rock and roll rebellion, which has been going on since Elvis shook his hips on television."

The actors are eager to perform.

"This is a high energy-production with a few shocking scenes," said Will Harrington, who plays Willard. "We are really happy to do this. Everyone was tired of doing plays about orphans (such as "Cinderella," "Annie" and "Oliver")."

Another lead is Erin Murphy, who plays Rusty.

"I love doing these plays," Murphy said, noting that she gave up volleyball and soccer to concentrate on the stage productions. "We worked on this during the summer, and the dance moves are so great with the flips.

"I think this is gong to put Tosa West on the map for theater," she said.

Cyrano, up close

At East, long-time director Tom Thaney said he is looking forward to unveiling this black-box production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," which will seat 240 patrons per show.

"The audience is very close to the actors, making it a very intimate environment," Thaney said. "We have 22 actors on stage and about 25 students backstage."

He also uses a student director as part of the academics and production.

"I acted from third grade through eighth grade, but did not make the (high school) troupe," said Holly Wilinski, Cyrano's student director. "I worked on technical parts of the productions and this opportunity came up. I really like it."

Cyrano is played by Quinten Anderson, who started out taking an acting class as a sophomore and then began trying out for parts in his junior year.

"I love the role," he said, because Cyrano has this big personality and the role includes humor with the drama.

Anderson said his biggest challenge is playing the role with appropriate facial and voice bravado while wearing makeup that includes a prodigious nose.

The ties that bind

These productions have a few common elements.

Each is carved out of an ambitious schedule that includes rehearsals after each school day and on weekends and is amped up just before performances begin.

"It always gets intense as we get into dress rehearsals," Catlett said. "Everyone works hard for weeks, and then it intensifies."

Thaney agreed, saying, "We have a 'hell week' in which our students stay even later into the night."

He noted that the troupes' support group - many members being parents - come with food to help sustain the actors and crew.

"There is a lot of support from families," Catlett said. "That help is very welcome."

An additional tie between the productions is the directors themselves. While Catlett was a college student, he served as a student director for one of Thaney's productions.

"I've been doing this for a long time," Thaney said. "The theater departments at the schools try to support each other. We take the rivalry out of it."