Emma Nolan
Arts, Entertainment, Technology Editor
@emman_courant
Excitement fills the air as the NCHS theatre department prepares for opening night of the upperclassmen play, The Orphan Train, this Thursday, October 22nd. The production includes a variety of monologues, which cast members have worked tirelessly on in order to properly depict the time period. The Orphan Train is set in the early 1910s, when young orphans were shipped along the East Coast to the Midwest by train, to be sold and auctioned off into families.
Senior Berlin Charles takes on a leading role of an orphan named Raymond Jackson who is struggling to find a home due to his physical disabilities. “All of us orphans are incredibly unique and some have an element about ourselves that prevents us from getting adopted, and because this takes place in the early twentieth century, fast workers are needed, not unhealthy or slow kids,” Berlin said. “Raymond decides to join a circus with midgets and bearded ladies, because it’s the only place he feels he fits in.”
While some cast members depict orphans, others are the adults looking for children, like senior Audrey Kirkpatrick who takes on two different adult characters. “Both roles are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum,” she said. “It has been such a wonderful learning experience to start with one character and have to do a 180 and be a completely different person later in the show.”
Junior Allison Demers who plays an orphan named Annie, believes that because the subject matter of the play is more serious than most, the cast had to invest more time into their character development. “There has been so much preparation going into this show, not only with the set and physical production, but as an actor as well,” she said. “It was a journey; we have been working on this show from the beginning of the school year.”
Much like Allison, Audrey believes she was able to grow as an actress through preparing for her roles and putting time into understanding her scenes. “We finished blocking the show early on, which gave us time to work on character development, relationships and a chance to read through our scenes and analyze them,” she said. “However, performers thrive off of adrenaline, and there is no better source of adrenaline than a live audience.”
“I am especially excited for the audience to watch the scene with Emily, James and Evie; Emily lives alone in a large house and her love-interest James adopts Evie to keep Emily company,” Audrey said. “It is such a powerful scene, and the relationships are really beautiful and intriguing, I enjoy myself more and more each time I perform it. I truly can’t wait for the audience to be part of this story.”
“The audience should expect to be sort of hit in the face with reality, it’s a very heavy show that touches on topics that are sometimes ignored, like child abuse, prostitution, discrimination in children and more,” Berlin said. “Though it takes place in the early 1900s, it is very close to home and the audience might shed a couple of tears. We connect it to modern day at the end of the show so that the audience gets an understanding of how much of an issue The Orphan Train was and that youth homelessness still is.”
The Orphan Train premieres tonight at 7 pm, and will show through Saturday. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online.
