By Eileen Oldfield Staff Writer
A cast and crew of about 50 middle school students are all it takes to turn Hillsborough Middle School’s annex cafeteria into A.A. Milne’s “Hundred Acre Wood,” as students in the school’s drama club perform “Winnie the Pooh.”
The cast will perform three shows, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The shows will be in the middle school annex cafeteria, and $6 tickets will be sold at the door.
Directors Barbara Doyle and Lucinda Pantano note the cast and crew started rehearsing in October.
”It’s a combination of nervous and excited for some students,” said Ms. Doyle, a seventh-grade literacy teacher. “It’s the first time they’ve been on stage. They are nervous, but they are excited, too.”
The two-act play focuses on Roo and Kanga’s introduction into the “Hundred Acre Wood,” and Rabbit’s birthday party.
Parents, including Deb York, Tristen Garretson, and Don Garretson, staff members, and local businesses designed, created and donated materials to the production’s sets, Ms. Doyle said.
While Ms. Doyle said she had specific ideas for the characters, the kids brought their own character interpretations to the production.
”The characters are, for the most part, middle school archetypes,” Ms. Doyle said. “I had a very different conception. I was going to go with more middle school types, where Eeyore’s (Gina Bagnasco, an eighth-grader) more Gothic, Rabbit’s (Sabrina Patrizio, an eighth-grader) fastidious, and Roo’s (Kristen McKenna, no grade available) a mama’s boy. The kids took it in their own direction.”
For many of the kids, the play will be their first and last time on stage. The play rehearsals are scheduled around sports and other activity schedules, making it easier for kids to participate.
”We have an outlet to expose the kids to their arts,” said Ms. Pantano, a literacy teacher. “This way, they can learn to respect it and appreciate it early.”
