BallyWHO?
Bally’s cast and crew come in as number two
Adolf Freitag plays cards with his niece when she arrives home from college. A number of the scenes that occurred in Adolf’s house revolved around the staircase set piece that was constructed by Starr’s Mill Productions co-president Darril Bill and volunteer set designer Steve Rambeck. In the days leading up to opening curtain, members of the Advanced Drama II class also helped paint the staircase.
October 29, 2016
After a long two months of rehearsal and preparation, the competitive one-act play The Last Night at Ballyhoo came to an end last weekend. As a way to practice the show before the competition performance on Oct. 22, the cast and crew put on two shows at the Mill’s Willie Duke auditorium Oct. 20 and Oct. 21. The purpose of these performances was to make sure the timeliness of the show was within the competition requirements.
Although this was Starr’s Mill’s first one act play competition, the cast and crew snagged a few awards. The thespians won Best Set and were named Region 3-AAAAA One-Act Play Runner-up. “These results were super exciting because we had never competed before. We worked so hard for these achievements,” senior cast member Nora Bill said.
The cast of The Last Night of Ballyhoo pose for a group picture on the last day of dress rehearsal. The cast and crew ventured to Whitewater High for Starr’s Mill’s first one-act competition piece on Oct. 22. The Mill’s performance came in second place.
During the award ceremony, judges recognize two All-Star cast members from each competing school for their overall performance. Seniors Avery Grillo and Rollin Rockett received this award on Saturday. “It was a really fun experience to be a part of Starr’s Mill’s first one-act drama competition and [it was a] great way to start of my senior year in the drama department,” Grillo said.
With just 55 minutes for the set to be placed on stage, actors perform, and set be taken off, the crew also felt the pressure of the night and had to face several challenges of their own. The fact that the lighting and sound equipment at Whitewater was foreign to the crew prior to the show was stressful, “but Susan Simich, Whitewater’s drama teacher, was really helpful throughout the process,” senior crew member Devin Fourqurean said.
The play’s plot took place during the beginning of World War II, where a Jewish-American family living in Georgia faced cultural struggles. “The family is trying to repress their heritage because they don’t want that to be what defines them,” Bill said.
The show goes on to present all the different challenges the family had to go through to fit into the American community.
As the play progressed, two different love stories developed, allowing the audience to form emotional attachments to the characters. “It had a classic movie feel, structured like a romantic comedy with a happy ending, and those are always good,” director Andrew Snider said.
Snider’s first year at the Mill came with many hopes for the drama department. He wanted to bring the members of the cast and crew together as a family while participating in the first competitive one-act play. He also hoped to bring together “members from others schools and community to celebrate theater,” Snider said.
Preparation for the spring musical “Beauty and the Beast” began almost immediately following the competition, and roughly 60 people signed up. A dance workshop was held in the drama room on Oct. 25, a music workshop on Oct. 26, and a review of both on Oct. 28. Official auditions were held on Oct. 29 in the Willie Duke auditorium.
