Cast and crew face the challenge of “being underwater”
“If you are a seagull, get up on stage!”
Directions such as this have flown around the theater at Clearview Regional High School for the past few months as Linda Deal, the director, and her cast and crew prepare to captivate viewers in a rendition of “The Little Mermaid” in late March.
This is the 13th show Deal has been involved in at Clearview Regional and her fifth as head director, and while she is enjoying it, she admits there is a new challenge involved. Water.
Or, the lack of water.
Deal explained that one of the biggest questions she had to ask herself after choosing “The Little Mermaid” was, “How do you suspend reality and make people believe they are looking at fish and mermaids?”
Putting this challenge on a cast and ensemble of 55 middle school and high school students was a challenge at first, but with a bit of creativity, Deal feels it is going well.
Disney put Heelys, shoes embedded with a wheel on the heel of the sole, on the feet of some actors in the Broadway performance, but that is not an option for the high school.
Deal noted that after constant reminders to “always be moving,” the students began to find their own ways of convincing themselves they are underwater.
Kathryn Lee, starring as Ariel, enjoys the underwater factor, saying “It is interesting to play around with gravity. It can be fun to manipulate it.”
Sydney Kauftheil may have the most difficult test convincing the audience she is leagues below the surface as she plays Ursula, the haughty, sinister villain with tentacles.
“Unlike any other character, you have to be constantly moving, like you’re being pulled by the waves underwater,” she said, stating everything she does on stage must embody water.
However, Kauftheil noted Ursula does not answer to anyone, and despite the “presence” of water, she moves at her own speed.
“She doesn’t have to move for anyone. She’ll turn her head slowly and she’ll talk as she pleases and give you short answers if she pleases,” she said.
Both Lee and Kauftheil mentioned the water aspect is not a huge concern any longer and are just happy to be in their roles.
“This is the dream role. I could not believe it when they told me. I thought they were kidding,” Lee said of her reaction when she learned in December she would star as Ariel.
“I am so excited. This is the only time in my life I’ll get to do this,” she said.
Lee is a junior at Clearview, and while theater is a passion of hers, she feels she will most likely not pursue theater after high school. Instead, she is considering literature as an academic path.
A poet, an actress and a singer, Lee says she identifies with her character — “I see a lot of myself in Ariel, we are both just 16-year-old girls trying to figure out life. She is different than any other princess. She has so much to say about her future. She is strong and unapologetic.”
In Lee and Kauftheil’s time in Clearview theater, they have been part of multiple plays, including “The Addams Family” and “Sister Act.”
Deal’s group of 55 students ranges in grade from middle school through high school.
She is encouraged by the enthusiasm she is seeing from young students.
“It is rebuilding the program,” she said.
Clearview no longer offers theater in the curriculum, so the directing crew must rely on their knowledge of a student’s past performance while judging other students based on a three-minute audition.
And for the students who make the cut, she says, “We tell them, like a sports team, you have to work it in.”
Deal and her cast and crew practice four nights a week, sometimes up to five hours per night. As the first show nears, the group has been putting in six hours on Saturdays in preparation.
“The Little Mermaid” four-show run begins at 7:30 p.m., March 22 at the Toscano Theatre of Performing Arts at 420 Cedar Road, Mullica Hill. The remaining shows are scheduled for 8 p.m., March 23; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., March 24.
The box office opens 90 minutes before each performance; however, the directing crew encourages people to purchase tickets online as this show is extremely popular.
Tickets can be purchased online for $7 (service fee will apply) at https://crhsd.booktix.com/.
