72 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, May 30 -June 5, 1997
LMS students present bewitching "Hansel and Gretel"
By Rosanne Pack
The Gingerbread House looked
good enough to eat and the witch
was wicked enough to deserve a
good swift push into the fiery
oven when a fourth grade class
brought touch of live theatre to
Lewes Middle School.
Students of Sallie Jones per-
formed an adaptation of "Hansel
and Gretel" after helping prepare
the set and costume designs as
well as gather props. The full-
scale production included live
music and chorus numbers and
major scene changes.
The play was performed four
times for different classes at
Lewes Middle. Scheduling sever-
al performances allowed Jones to
use a double-casting system so
that students switched off playing
principal characters and Ginger-
bread Children who also served as
the chorus. Everyone who wanted
to got to play a character in two
performances.
"This class is strong academi-
cally, and they are very creative,
so we decided to do a play asan
end-of-year project," Jones said.
"The kids were very enthusiastic,
and we had great help from some
of our parents."
Some o.f the students had stage
experience in school or with
churches or area community the-
atre groups, but many were ap-
pearing before an audience for the
first time. According to Jones and
the eager young actors, all four
performances went smoothly, and
most students are eager to trod the
boards again. All agreed that
learning the songs, lines set to mu-
sic, was easier than learning lines
for dialogue.
The class worked on the project
for two months, but only from
2:30 to 3:15 each day. When it
was time to cast the show, Jones
had the students audition, just as
they would for a community or
professional group.
"We were told the parts that
were available, and we could de-
cide if we wanted to try out for
one," Ky Hacker-Page said. "I
wanted to try for Peter, the father,
and I got to play him in the second
cast."
Carly Roessler said she wants to
do more plays. She set her sights
on playing Gretel, and went for it;
she portrayed Gretel in the second
cast.
"I would like to be in another
play like this one," she said. "I
could maybe be the lead role. I
like to act a lot."
Characters and costumes
Daniel Prettyman played the fa-
ther in the first cast. He said the
students thought about their char-
acters, how they would act and
sound, when they auditioned, and
then when they got into re-
hearsals.
"When I was the father, I had to
talk old; I tried to make my voice
sound old," Prettyman said.
The students had plenty of help
in getting their costumes together,
but they also were'responsible for
deciding what was best for their
character. When it came to the
witch, Courtney Lorah, Witch I,
and Jasmine Woods, Witch II,
found that the right accessories
make the witch.
"Jasmine and I tried different
colored aprons, a blue one and
some other colors, over the black
skirt, but they didn't look right,"
Lorah said, "Then we made it all
black including the apron. With
that and the black socks, it was
right."
Chris Wade got to play Peter,
the father, in the second cast. He
found the experience of wearing
stage make-up a new one, but he
understood that it was necessary.
"If we didn't wear make-up on
stage, the lights would wash out
our faces too much," he ex-
plained. "Even the boys had to
wear some lipstick and some color
on our cheeks." He sail no one
was embarrassed about wearing
make-up because they know it is
what actors do.
An act of teamwork
The students accepted that each
character is of equal importance to
a play, no matter how big the role.
Bobby McVey played the Sand-
man in the first cast, and he ex-
plained his insight into the part.
"I was glad to be the Sandman,"
he said. "I thought it was impor-
tant for someone to be there to
help the children when they were
lost in the forest."
Two students, Steven Parseghi-
an and Andrew Rogan kept props
and set changes moving as they
worked as stage crew.
The students said that they were
rewarded with great responses
from the audiences.
Andrew Adams played Hansel
in the first cast, and he found that
everyone liked it when the wicked
witch tried to fatten Hansel up so
he would bake up well.
"I think the younger grades es-
pecially liked the play, but every-
one liked the part when Ky and I
had to get into the dog cage," he
said.
Jones credits the finished look
of the set to the hard work of par-
ent Dana Long. Long designed the
Gingerbread House and a room in
Rosanne Pack photo
Hansel and Gretel apply a generous sprinkle of magic dust as they bring the Gingerbread
Children back to normal life in the Lewes Middle School production of the classic faery tale.
Hansel and Gretel's cottage as
well as other set pieces such as the
witch's oven. Following her in-
Continued on page 73
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