During this year’s production of The Curious Savage, junior Keegan Redmond performed a headstand during the final two showings of the play, but not without extensive consideration beforehand.
While neither he nor his castmates knew if he’d be allowed to perform such a stunt, the first two showings of the play went as originally planned; that is, until, he got permission from Theatre Director Jessi Dykstra.
“I did a headstand in the play,” Keegan explained. “At first, we weren’t sure if I was going to be allowed to do it, so I didn’t do it for the first two shows, but we finally were able to convince [Dykstra] to let me do it for the last two. [For The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee musical], we’ve only had two rehearsals so far, but I think it’s going really well. We’ve gotten to know Dykstra, and she’s really nice, so it’s a good experience.”
The FHC Theatre department has a close-knit bond with each other, making essentially any production a feasible and somewhat familial task to complete.
While maintaining an energetic environment, each cast member still must make sure to do their best to successfully portray their character in the way they are meant to. For Keegan, this is 12-year-old Charlito “Chip” Tolentino.
“I play Chip Tolentino,” Keegan said. “He’s a speller in the spelling bee, and he won [the prior] year’s spelling bee, and he’s coming back, hoping to win again. He’s 12 years old, going through puberty, and [he’s facing] all the challenges that come with that. He’s quite cocky; he thinks everyone loves him. His past win got to his head, so he’s very high-and-mighty and thinks he’s the smartest person in the room.”
While Keegan’s character is coming back from his prior championship, other characters don’t have that same mindset. One of those characters is newcomer spelling bee contestant Olive Ostrovsky played by senior Paige Harsevoort.
Paige’s attitude going into any role is amicable, to say the least, but this role seems to connect with her on a different level than many of the others she has done.
“She’s very shy and very reserved,” Paige said. “[She] has a complicated relationship with her father and doesn’t get to see her mom all that much. [Because of that], she doesn’t really like to meet new people because she’s afraid of them being mean to her, but she also wants friends. She’s scared, so she relies on the words that she knows and loves because she knows they’ll always be there for her.”
Some actors make up little idiosyncrasies in their characters to help them better connect and transform into their personas, and this is something that Paige has done with the role of Olive.
Paige’s technique is to analyze Olive’s personality and create assumptions that she can relate to, and this allows her to better portray the character.
“My character, I decided that her parents are divorced,” Paige said. “They have very complicated family troubles, and my parents are also divorced, so I can relate to that. It never explicitly says that her parents are divorced, but that’s the vibe I’ve been getting. She and I both have similar experiences with some family issues, for sure, and there’s some rough water with her parents. I think it’s fun to play a character who is shy and has family issues compared to me who is more outgoing and has family issues. It’s just really cool to see how she acts around different people.”
While trying to fit her character as best she can, Paige also recognizes the manners in which her castmates work to fit their own characters as well.
In Paige’s eyes, William Morris Barfée’s actor suits his character perfectly particularly because of the sheer comedy of the separation between character and actor.
“I think [junior Toby Cameron] fits his character the best,” Paige said. “His name is William Barfée, but I refer to him as Barf because we’re just close like that. [Toby] can really get into character, and he can do a really good voice that perfectly pertains to his character. When he and I are interacting on stage, it’s like I don’t know him at all, and he’s like a completely different person. It’s really funny because he tells me to shut up many different times [in the musical] and looking at him with a straight face while he’s saying ‘shut up’ is funny to me.”
With the amount of talent in the FHC Theater department, there are some incredible faces in this year’s musical, and that wouldn’t be possible without Dykstra.
“It’s been crazy,” Dykstra said. “We’ve had so many snow days that we’re behind, but it’s been going really well. Everybody knew it was coming, and they saw it at [Forest Hills] Northern, so a lot of kids had already been practicing. At our practices, it’s been crazy since they already know the songs, and they know what the characters are supposed to be like, so it’s going really well.”
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a unique musical in that there are points in which audience members are called onto the stage to participate, and the show itself is a comedic take on the mundane concept.
This is the first musical that Dykstra is directing through FHC, and she was apprehensive about choosing it, so she got some help.
“This one was half chosen by me and half not,” Dykstra explained. “[Former theater director Robbin Demeester] talked to the [Forest Hills] Northern director, and when I was coming in, [Demeester] spent multiple days during the summer here with me to help me get acclimated. She’s the one who convinced me to do this musical since I didn’t know the talent we had. I’m glad I agreed with the suggestion because I didn’t know the kids, so it’d be a good show to help me as I was getting a feel for the school and the students.”
FHC’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is coming up in March, and the talent present will make it a worthy watch.
The audience participation, comedic musical numbers, and the wide expanse of variety in the cast are sure to make this performance an unforgettable experience for everybody involved.
“I’m excited to sing and dance,” Paige said. “I do love acting, but the singing and dancing are my favorite, and I’m really excited to showcase that for everyone. I will say that I’m scared of spelling a word wrong when I’m supposed to spell it right because if the audience catches on, then that could be really embarrassing for me, but it’s going to be a great show, and everybody should come out and see it.”
