On the Dark Side of Twilight: Admiral King High School

Ten years ago, Great Lakes Theater produced my first outreach tour "On the Dark Side of Twilight."

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The tour came to Lorain Admiral King High School today. Loading in we had the assistance of maybe a dozen volunteers who were pressed into service to help us move large bits of the set and help us get everything up and ready. The three of us have yet to put the whole thing together or tear it down by ourselves.

This was our first high school audience. True, there were students at LCCC last night, but it was a mix of old and young. We had a larger than usual Admiral King audience today, it was reported that there were some 8th graders with us. LAK doesn't send the entire student body to witness the outreach tour, but I am always mystified as to exactly which students have the privilege of attending the performance and why.

As for the performance itself, it went over very well. I believe this will be a trend, the high school students will watch patiently through the first two arcs and then bust out in surprise at the final two. Daniel warned me about the arcane nature of Arc One: The Giaour, and how it might go right over the heads of the high school audiences.

It doesn't go over their heads exactly, but I am worried they think the entire show is going to sound like that and check out. He prepped them during the pre-show speech to let them know what the play was about, and how it eventually reaches more contemporary material.

Something else ... teenagers can read something dirty into almost anything. And today was the first time an audience really got creeped out by the old, bald Count coming onto the Maria in arc two.

It is going to be very, very hard to get out of these high school shows within 90 minutes of the end of the talkback. So many kids want to talk to us, to sign autographs, to talk about the play!

And the girls keep hitting on Dusten. Pity poor Dusten.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles @ Lorain High School

Another non-public performance, today at Lorain High. Our contact, Greg Antus, found several very helpful student volunteers to help us get the set up. Greg has been a valuable asset at Lorain High (formerly Lorain Admiral King) for years, and works very hard to ensure the tour runs smoothly.

Years ago when I was an actor-teacher, my first Death of a Salesman residency was at Lorain Admiral King. Part of the lesson plan includes an improvisation where it was necessary for me to be entirely irrational with my teenage child, played by one of the students. I remember the very first class of the day, I was supposed to be entirely unyielding and unsympathetic while this high school junior girl told me she was pregnant. She began to cry and I entirely folded. It was hilarious to witness.

Don't the colors look lovely?
While Greg had prepared his students for the performance they were about to see today, as often is the case a larger number of students were added to our audience by emptying out the study hall. While I approve of exposing as many students as possible to the fine arts, especially when arts programs have been eliminated in so many of our public school systems, it can be challenging to hold the attention of students who have not been told why they are there, or anything at all about what they are about to see.

Having said that, I believe our mystery was successfully mysterious to them, as they were a very good audience, into what was going on, entertained, amused and impressed. We had a great talkback following, though brief, as their school day was about to end.

"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" is now available from Playscripts, Inc.