“Masquerade” is the latest high school musical being performed locally that examines cliques, bullying and the efforts of students to fit in. Fort Myers Theatre’s production is unique. It’s entirely student directed, run and acted. Co-director Lauren Plank explains.
“We created the Student Ambassador Program last summer — this community of students who wanted to expand their skills,” said Plank. “So me and my co-director, Caleb Hill, reached out to Michelle about possibly doing a student-led show.”
Michelle Kuntze is Fort Myers Theatre Producing Artistic Director. She has been dreaming of creating a student ambassador program for 20 years.
“As I’m getting older, I really want to mentor students that are looking to be directors, choreographers, light designers,” Kuntze said. “So this show is completely student-run, from the choreography to the programs, anything that you see in the background. I have student leaders backstage, people learning the tech booth. Light design. Sound design. We have students that are working with costumes.”
In spite of their youth, “Masquerade’s” creative team has followed all the usual procedures.
“There was a table read and scene work and we choreographed all the numbers the exact same way,” Plank reported. “They’re just being taught by their peers.”
Audiences will be impressed by Katie Cook’s choreography and the superior quality of the vocals, which includes a rap number performed by Taylor Barbaro that’s worthy of Kendrick Lamar.
But the most challenging number is the ending scene, which depicts a shocking school shooting.
“We sat down and discussed what we thought that the gun scene should look like and how each character would embody the people in that scene,” said Plank. “It’s honestly the cast who’s been really helpful in this process. They’ve taken our suggestions and have made it their own, and it’s become a really amazing show.”
“Masquerade” is at Fort Myers Theatre for five shows only, June 19 to 22. Performances are Thursday, June 19 at 7 p.m.; Friday, June 20 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, June 21 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.; and Sunday, June 22 at 2 p.m.
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This award-winning teen show is a dynamic, contemporary musical addressing the important subject of bullying. Advocating non-violent conflict resolution with humor and vitality, “Masquerade” is a powerful catalyst for in-depth discussions in and out of schools.
The plot: After starting at a new school, siblings Jamie (Nathaniel Mulvaney) and Corri (Winter Talley) have hilarious and sometimes powerful encounters with the typical school cliques: the popular Diva Girls (Tiffany (Kyleigh Andrews), Amanda (Victoria Quilty) and Amy (Rose Schoenfeld)), the Intellectually Supreme and the School Bully, Erik (Taylor Barbaro). During the course of the day, tough guy Erik challenges Jamie to an afterschool fight. Jamie tries to avoid the fight, and Erik even has second thoughts and wants to pull out but doesn't quite know how to do that without looking like a wimp.
The show is written with a surprise double-ending that explores the tragedy of school violence and offers positive alternatives to conflict. “Masquerade” is a highly entertaining show with a valuable, important message to which everyone can relate.
“Masquerade” was written by Don and Lynn Stallings, with music and lyrics by Eric Grant Bennett. It features pop songs like “Three Ring Circus,” “Queen of the Mall,” “My Time to Shine,” “Bizarre,” “Cold Hard Faces,” “Before the Night Falls,” “Love Will Light Our Way” and the title number, “Masquerade.”
The musical made its world premiere at Atlanta Workshop Players in 2007. On Oct 1, 2016, a revised version of the show premiered, in a production directed by Lynn Stallings.
“I first saw 'Masquerade' at a theater festival in Atlanta when it was first written and produced by students,” Kuntze recalled. “I was twenty-something years old and just thought it was brilliantly written and a great piece that really spoke to students about cliques and the consequences that can follow when you don’t include everyone. This really speaks to all the different aspects of high school but also shows consequences for students who are really feeling bullied.”
So when Plank and Hill asked her if they could produce a show directed, run and consisting exclusively of students, she immediately sensed that “Masquerade” was a perfect fit.
“It is a deep piece with a school shooting, so they had to have deep conversations and provide a base for the actors, as well,” said Kuntze, who admitted that giving up control of the creative process wasn’t easy.
“I completely stepped back and forced myself to wait until they asked me for advice,” Kuntze said. “But they’re smart. They even did creative things that I probably wouldn’t have thought of. I learned a lot from them over the past few months.”
“When Michelle suggested ‘Masquerade,’ we looked into the show and thought it would be a very good show to start with because it’s a smaller show that not many people know about,” Plank interjected. “So we looked up descriptions of the characters, what costumes they wear, the props they use. We looked through the songs and listened to recordings of them. We looked through all of that and we were like this is a really good show to start with.”
There are 14 members in the cast. In addition to the leads (Jamie and Corri), the Divas, the school reporter (KC) and the school bully, the cast includes an aspiring thespian, Brent (Yanissah-Lynn Fabre), Katie (played by Plank), Melvin (Colton Herman), Midge (Carla De Leon) and two featured dancers, Olivia Anderson and co-director Caleb Hill. The show’s choreographer, Katie Cook, plays the narrator, who reconstructs the action with a clap, clap, clap of her hands contrasting as it actually occurred with how it should have unfolded.
“We have one stage manager, Keira Hurst,” Plank added. “Our oldest is 20. The rest are all either in middle or high school.”
Plank, Hill and Cook started planning the production in December with their creative team, which consisted of Kristen Long as vocal director, Kyleigh Andrews as dance captain, Winter Talley as vocal captain, Lilith Dube as costume designer and Lucas Tallery as sound booth operator, with help from Trace Talley for sound design. But when it came time to cast the show, they turned to Kuntze.
“So it didn’t seem biased,” Plank explained.
Once all the roles were cast, they held a table read.
“We read through the script with our cast and then afterwards, we discussed their characters and how they could embody their characters and what attributes their characters added to the plot of the story,” said Plank. “That really helped us to now, today, where we’re completing tech. I can really see those characters shining through in each and every one of our cast members.”
As it turned out, the cast readily took direction from Plank, Hill and Cook even though they’re roughly the same age.
“Most of the time, our feedback goes deeper because we are connected more since we are around the same age and they understand more what we are saying,” Plank said.
There’s been no drop-off in the quality of the production audiences will see. In fact, they’ll be hard-pressed to find any difference in the acting, vocals, choreography, sound, lighting and costumes than what they expect from any other show at Fort Myers Theatre. The experience has been so positive, in fact, that Plank, Hill, Cook and Kuntze expect “Masquerade” to be just the first in a long line of shows produced by Student Ambassadors.
Kuntze says that the Student Ambassador Program has even more far-reaching goals than merely teaching students how to direct and produce a show.
“My whole concept of the program is to help students not only learn about the theater, but to be kind,” said Kuntze. “To be an ambassador, you have to be hardworking, a leader and kind and my expectation is for them to mentor other students who are new to theater and to show that kindness when I can’t be everywhere at once, that they are teaching some of the things that I’ve taught them.”
Now that it is in place, Kuntze intends to operate the Student Ambassador Program throughout the year.
“We took the ambassadors to Disney and did a Disney workshop a couple of months ago, so they were able to go behind the scenes, do a whole day at Disney,” Kuntze noted. “And they’re getting volunteer hours for college, they’re getting to direct their own shows, they get to go on different field trips and workshops. I really am trying to build that next generation of really serious leaders.”
Kuntze did identify one limitation to the program’s success.
“The only way this will keep going is if we get an audience, so I hope people will come out and support the kids who are directing and give them some positive feedback because they worked really hard and it’s really fun seeing leadership being developed.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.