By Teodora Iovi, BEAT reporter
With just a few more months until the end of the school year, and a few weeks until the big performance, Brunswick’s Middle School Drama Club cast and crew have been working very hard to put the final touches to the show. This year, lots of talented middle schoolers have joined drama club in hopes of getting the opportunity to act on stage with their fellow classmates.
Willy Wonka and 5 children and parents on the candy boat.BEATVideoProgram
Drama Club, now in its third season, is performing Willy Wonka Junior at the Brunswick High School Performing Arts Center. While the cast is getting ready to put on their show, the days of the final performances draw nearer. With over 176 students in Drama Club and with so many jobs to get done, it only makes sense that everyone must have a role. The students in the club are split into two groups: the cast and the crew.
The crew has many different parts: the stage, make-up, costume, prop, sound, house, light, and production/set crew. Victoria Cooper is a part of the stage and costume crew and her favorite part about Drama Club is getting to interact with all the students from the other schools. Victoria mentioned, “I joined Drama Club to find a new and really fun way to express myself, and so that I could have something to do in the winter season.” She, along with fifty other students in crew, are working very hard to get their jobs done.
Willy Wonka and children practicing their parts in Willy Wonka JrBEATVideoProgram
The other side of the Drama Club is the cast. Since the cast students are the ones performing on the stage, they have a big part in remembering all their lines and dances. But without the crew, the cast would not have any makeup to make them look like their characters, music to sing along with, or any props to make this play the best performance they can.
Nathan Zadzilka, playing Charlie Bucket, is a seventh-grader at Visintainer Middle School. His favorite part about the club is the costumes. Another important actor in the play is none other but Willy Wonka himself. Wonka is being played by two girls: Charlotte Hill and Ellie Radabaugh. Both girls have loved acting and singing their whole lives. Charlotte said, “I decided to join this club because it was something new for me, and I really like to sing, so this club was just right for me.” Radabaugh and Zadzilka have also previously played in Aladdin Junior last year and Ellie played the Genie. Both of them are definitely going to be a part of Drama Club next year.
(L-R): Phineous Trout, Augustus Gloop, Mrs. Gloop. In the back are the CooksBEATVideoProgram
Adam Albright, the director of the play, is working with the students to make the script come to life. He said, “I decided to begin Drama Club because I saw a need for students to express themselves in a different light. Many times in school students are looked over because they are not talented in sports or academics, but they excel in the arts. I felt the need to start a program like this for that reason, to let kids express themselves in an artistic manner.”
Albright is also a choir teacher at Visintainer and Edwards Middle Schools. “I like working with the kids on creating the show. This can be through singing, acting, dancing or set construction/design, it is all about the process of creating and making all of it come to life,” he said. The only requirement to join Drama Club is to attend one of the three middle schools in Brunswick.
There are three shows that the middle schoolers are performing. They are on Fri., March 17 at 7 p.m. and Sat., March 18 at 2 and 5 p.m. If you have any questions please contact Adam Albright at aalbright@bcsoh.org.
Teodora Iovi, a sixth-grader at Visintainer Middle School, is one of over forty student “backpack journalists” (grades 6-12) in the award-winning BEAT Video Program. The Program is sponsored by Scene75, Plum Creek Assisted Living Community, Baskets Galore, Medina County Arts Council, Medina County Women’s Endowment Fund, Brunswick Eagles 3505 Brunswick Rotary Club and Lorain County Community College at Midpoint Campus Center. Go to www.thebeat22.com to learn more about the Program, or visit thebeat.pegcentral.com to view videos produced by the students.
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