The ORRHS Drama Club ushered in the beginning of the holiday season this past week with four spectacular performances of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
The show opened last Thursday to an auditorium packed with an audience of friends, family, and other community members eager to see the result of weeks of practice, and none were disappointed. Between a lively cast, colorful set, and wonderful piano accompaniment by director Paul Sardinha, everyone found themselves enchanted by the musical rendition of the classic tale.
One cast member the audience became quite familiar with by the play’s end was freshman Paul Kippenberger, who guided the story along as the ghost of Jacob Marley.
In fact, the curtain closing for intermission signaled one of the only times Kippenberger was offstage, as his narrator role had him always hovering towards the edge of a scene.
“The living room scene,” he confirmed to be his favorite segment, referencing his character’s first full appearance to Scrooge in which he shouts and causes half a dozen books on chains to fall from the ceiling.
“It was really epic,” Kippenberger said the day after his first performance with the high school drama club. “There was a lot more going on than I thought there would be,” speaking of both on and offstage.
Similar responses could be heard from those working behind the scenes.
“It’s really high energy,” one freshman crew member said.
A fellow member, junior Lindsey Marolla, agreed. “Definitely hectic,” she laughed. “But it was really fun; everyone was helping each other out.”
“A lot of people sing backstage,” both junior Maggie Farrell and freshman cast member Andrew Steel commented.
Junior Alice Bednarczyk, who played the ghost of Christmas Present, elaborated on this idea.
“Even when you get so prepared for something … you don’t really know how it’ll turn out until opening night. It’s like a puzzle,” said Bednarczyk. “You keep adding pieces and it’s not until you finish it that you see the whole picture and realize you did something.”
With the final performance now behind them, many drama club members find themselves looking forward to the beginning of practice for their spring show, which is yet to be announced.
“I’m ready for it,” Kippenberger affirmed.
“It’s worth it,” Steel summarized of the entire drama experience.
By Jo Caynon