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| Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie De La Garza Students have been practicing for nearly a month for Opening Night of “The Glass Menagerie,” which starts at 7 p.m., Dec. 6. Acting students are, from left, Elyse Kiehn as Amanda Wingfield, Jonathan Stokely as The Gentleman Caller, Emily Bragdon as Laura Wingfield and Ethan Caron as Tom Wingfield. |
By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The community is invited to attend a theatrical performance on Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7, as four students from the Caribou High School take the stage at for “The Glass Menagerie,” a play by Tennessee Williams.
Ethan Caron, Elyse Kiehn, Emily Bradgon and Jon Stokely will bring the play to life at the Caribou Performing Arts Center, under the direction of the school’s new Spanish teacher Pat Karpen; Karpen also co-produced the show with Barbara Finlay.
But just about a month ago, the CHS Drama Club didn’t know they’d be putting on “The Glass Menagerie” — rather, Karpen just happened to have multiple copies of the play for her students to read for practice while assessing their strengths.
Listening to the students, Karpen was touched by how beautifully one student read the part of Tom Wingfield.
“He just seemed to have such a tremendous sense of that part,” she recalled.
Karpen doesn’t know if any of the drama students will choose to follow theater throughout their lives, but she did know that Caron needed to play that part.
There were other reasons why the play works well for the group — Karpen said that “The Glass Menagerie” has four excellent parts and “it’s a memory play so in terms of the set, while it took a lot of gathering and hunting, it was doable,” she described.
While there were many reasons why the play fit, there were also many challenges for the young actors and actresses.
“I think we had 22 days, and you cannot do ‘The Glass Menagerie’ in 22 days … but here we are, and we have something,” Karpen said.
While Karpen, a former professional actress, has a special place in her heart for Williams’ play, she clearly has an even greater love of the theater — and encourages the community to attend the performances this weekend.
“Forget that it’s ‘The Glass Menagerie,’ forget that it’s these students — who I’m rooting for, heart and soul, mind and body,” Karpen said. “I think there is such a palpable difference between theater and film — and I think it’s getting away from us,” she added, “and that difference is that you can’t hide if you’re in the audience; you can hear the heartbeat and you can’t deny that there are human beings right in front of you — you can reach out and touch them, and I believe that their humanity can be inhaled,” Karpen said. “I don’t think that happens in movies.”
While Karpen clearly loves the theater, she’s found that there are others in the area tremendously supportive of the drama club’s endeavors — like CHS Principal Mark Jones and RSU 39 Superintendent Frank McElwain.
“There was no budget for this, and they’ve been so supportive not only financially, but in hope,” the director said. “They really, really wanted this to happen.”
As Karpen is finding little pockets of theatric support in the area, a discussion is brewing for the creation of a community theater — not just school kids, but community members of all ages and abilities.
But while Karpen has found support for the CHS drama club and theater in general, there’s one thing she hasn’t found and desperately needs.
“Daffodils!” she said.
An important prop for the play, Karpen is hopeing that someone in the community has some fake daffodils that the drama club could borrow for the production.
“The Glass Menagerie” will play at the Caribou Performing Arts Center on Friday, Dec. 6 and Sunday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.
