Return to the "POINTER VIEW"April 27, 2001
Return to the "POINTER VIEW"
April 27, 2001
By Pvt. 2 Nate
Jastrzemski
Staff Writer
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| Cadet 3rd Class Kevin Smith, playing Louis, watches as playwright Phyllis, played by Cadet 3rd Class Vanessa Stolzoff, tries to explain things to the cast. |
As you sit in front of the stage, Bryan Adams’ "Summer of ‘69" echoes throughout the room and the stage crew makes final preparations for the play. One crewmember shouts to someone backstage, "Do these curtains look good where they are?"
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| Billy, played by Cadet 1st Class David Escobar, listens as Cadet 2nd Class Jackie Lawson, playing Violet, repeats the same lines over and over again to get the intonations correct during their performance of "Play On," a 1980 spoof about a terrible play. The cadets, members of the Cadet Theater Arts Guild, performed Friday and Saturday nights at Eisenhower Hall. |
A minute of such dialogue transpires before you realize this is the play.
That’s how it started Friday and Saturday nights at Eisenhower Hall during the cadet-run "Play On," a 1980 spoof about a terrible play.
Performed by members of the Cadet Theatre Arts Guild, 25 cadets spent as much as two hours a night practicing since late January, said Cadet 3rd Class Vanessa Stolzoff, the play’s producer.
"Play On" details a stage production with an ever-changing script as it nears opening night. The stressed-out actors begin taking out their aggressions on each other, the stagehands and the unfortunate director, Gerald, played by Cadet 3rd Class Matthew Smoose.
Smoose said he learned putting on a play takes a team.
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| Above: Playing the egotistical Polly, Cadet 3rd Class Alaina Reese agonizes over another character’s disrespect. |
"This show was definitely a team effort," he said. "Everyone from our director Bill Montgomery to the cast and crew was essential in making the show a success."
The audience reaction was a big thrill, Smoose said, and he hopes word-of-mouth accolades will draw support for future productions.
"Hearing the audience laugh was the ultimate reward," he added. "I hope they liked it enough to tell their friends so we can get even more people to come out and support us."
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| Cadet 4th Class Laura Freeland, playing Smitty, is pained by the constant script-changes. |
Cadet 4th Class Luke Jackson said that while this was his first performance at West Point, he had experienced the thrill of audience reaction in high school.
"I’ve done [plays] so many times before in high school and it’s such an incredible feeling afterwards when everyone is talking about it," Jackson said. "It’s all worth it at the end when you hear everyone clapping.
"It’s awesome."
Many of the cadets have some high school stage experience and the TAG gives them the opportunity to continue acting despite their busy schedules, Smoose added.
"We were all able to use this experience as a release from our busy cadet lives," he said. "To me the theater is all about having a good time and enjoying oneself."
