Francesca DeRosa
Reporter
This weekend, the cast and crew of the fall drama And a Child Shall Lead took their play to Greenwich High School for the Connecticut Drama Association (CDA) festival. They performed at 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday, the first of eleven participating schools.
Junior Nick Zanca, who played Martin Lowy, explained how unusual it was to perform the show twice and in two different venues. “What’s interesting about this show compared to other shows I’ve been in at the high school is that the rehearsal process was elongated,” he said. “After our run of the show in October, I wasn’t as upset as I usually get after the final performance, because we all knew we had more to do with the show. Once we got back into rehersal about a month ago and started cutting, everything was already memorized. We all knew this show like the back of our hands.”
Adhering to the 45-minute time restriction was problematic due to numerous rehearsal cancellations as a result of last weekend’s storm. Each performance was alotted 45 minutes, with 15 minutes beforehand to place sets, and 5 minutes afterwards to take them down. New Canaan went over the time limit by approximately three minutes, but they were not disqualified due to the severity and widespread effects of last Sunday’s storm.
After the cast and crew performed, they were able to enjoy the performances from the other schools and had the chance to socialize with other “theatre kids” from around Connecticut. “When you get a bunch of actors that are doing different shows together, there’s a sense of unity,” Nick said. “Between shows, we all played improve theatre games outside. It was a blast. It was especially great to see the strengths that different schools bring to the table. No two shows are the same; each school has different fortes.”
New Canaan went away with awards for Theatrical Excellence, Set Design, and Stage Management. Senior Jelani Alladin recieve honorable mention for his portrayal of Miroslav Weiss and senior Katie Oxman was honored as a member of the All-Connecticut Cast for her portrayal of Eva Hellerova.
“I was extremely happy to hear I got an award,” Jelani said. “It came as a complete surprise because I wasn’t expecting to win anything. It felt good knowing that the judges thought I was somewhat talented.”
The highest honor of Outstanding Production went to Gilford High School and E. O. Smith High School, in no particular order. These schools will therefore be participating in the New England Drama Festival. New Canaan took third place overall and will replace either of these schools should one be unable to partake in the festival.
