PHS Drama Club has a
New Name, Presents a New O. Henry Adaption with a School Board Member Cameo
The Peekskill
High School Drama Club –
now renamed RED DEVIL REPERTORY will
be presenting THREE GIFTS from O. Henry, an original stage adaptation of
three of O. Henry’s most beloved short stories, on December 2nd & 3rd, 7:30 pm at the
Peekskill High School Auditorium.
Tickets will be sold at the door:
$7 students, $10 adults.
This holiday offering, perfect for the whole family
(school-aged and above), will take the audience back to New York City circa 1905. Director Katie Schmidt Feder has woven together
the characters and stories of The Gift of
the Magi, the Last Leaf and The Cop and the Anthem. The audience will meet a young couple, Jim
and Della, each willing to sacrifice his or her greatest possession in order to
purchase the other the perfect Christmas gift.
Two female artists, Sue and Johnsy, living in Greenwich
Village face the cold icy hand of pneumonia and are rescued by a
most unexpected gift from their downstairs neighbor, Mr. Behrman, a painter
always waiting to paint his greatest masterpiece. Soapy, a homeless man, just wants to get
arrested so he can spend the winter with shelter and three square meals a
day. Intermingled with these characters
are other inhabitants of the bustling turn-of-the 20th Century setting, including a shopkeep, carolers, waiters, cops, a newspaper man, pushcart lady and tree sellers, even a mysterious wig-maker, who help to tell this heart-warming tale.
Members of the cast include:
Sheridan Alexander, Stephanie Barahona, Gregory Clark, Sterling Fite,
Stephanie Gil, Paige Hill, Ayo Jegede, Valerie Kropf, Arianna Memoli, Myles Parks,
Milton Romero, Lucas Sanchez, Michael Snell, Michaela Spencer. Stage Manager is Margaret Krapish. Production Manager is Robert Pagan. Lighting Designer is Kayla Kershus. Student Producer is Stephanie Gil.
In addition to using original text from O. Henry’s writing, the
cast is also contributing through character choices, holiday songs and
improvisation. Characters from the
different stories meet, in one case resulting in a most poignant scene between
Jim and Soapy. Although the themes of
the show include poverty, homelessness, illness and life disappointments, there
will also be a rousing scene with music, spaghetti and a special cameo appearance
by school board member Tuesday Paige McDonald who is a talented vocalist.
To research the period of the show, seven students
accompanied Ms. Feder, Catherine Griffin, stagecraft advisor, and parent Linda
Shaw to New York City’s Tenement Museum. There, they visited an authentic recreation of
an early 1900’s apartment, complete with an actress portraying the role of a 14
year old immigrant. The students were
amazed at the tiny 3 room space which was home to seven family members and the
technological advances of the period which included a coin-operated gas powered
ceiling light. The group also walked
through Greenwich village to see research cobblestone
streets and brownstone stoops.
Ultimately, the set will represent an impression of the time period and
not an attempt at a replica, but key elements will bring the period to life.
To properly outfit the actors for the period, Ms. Feder is
conducting a costume workshop with some of the students – funded by the
Peekskill Education Foundation. The
students are taking costumes from storage and Salvation Army and transforming
them into late Victorian and early Edwardian styles. Keen eyes might notice the plaid pants worn
by the “Mayor of Whoville” in last year’s Seussical
transformed into puffy Victorian sleeves created by and to be worn by student
Paige Hill. Margaret Krapish, who also
serves as stage manager for the production, has been adjusting contemporary
men’s jackets to reflect the different cut of the earlier age say she “likes
transforming contemporary clothing to period clothing because it’s challenging
and there is a lot of research involved.”
As THREE GIFTS is all about sharing the gifts of artists,
the gifts of the holidays, the gifts of charity and empathy for those less
fortunate, there will be a collection of canned or non-perishable food items in
the performance lobby to benefit Fred’s Pantry, a program of C.H.O.P (Caring
for the Homeless of Peekskill, Inc.).
Also, in gratitude to Ms. Paige McDonald for her performance in the
show, a collection will be taken at intermission to benefit the Jason C. Paige
Memorial Scholarship fund.
