The Tritonian
NDA Presents The Curious SavageThursday, April 05, 2012 By Blaine Schmid
Notre Dame Academy will be presenting The Curious Savage , written by John Patrick, as the spring play for this year. The Curious Savage is a comedy about Ethel Savage, a woman whose husband died and left her with a fortune. Mrs. Savage’s step-children decide that she is spending her money foolishly, so they put her in a mental hospital. The play is about her adventures there. The play was first produced in New York at the Martin Beck Theatre in October 1950. The Curious Savage will open Thursday, May 3, in the Guy E. Guyon Auditorum at NDA, and other performance will run Friday and Saturday of that weekend. The play is directed by Mrs. Jan Fitzpatrick, who has been involved in the drama department for many years and serves as moderator of the Drama Club. The play was chosen because it’s an entertaining plot that can appeal to all ages, Mrs. Fitzpatrick noted. “It is an excellent story with a great plot. I love going to rehearsal every day,” said Laurel Kratowicz, junior and cast member. Approximatley 40 or so students auditioned for the play; however, only a fraction were chosen for the final cut. The play features a small cast which includes Stewart as the doctor, Laurel Kratowicz as the nurse, seniors David Schuck and Joseph Wolf, junior Chloe Warpinski and sophomores Mallory Kaster and Anna DeMeuse as patients in the mental hospital, junior Isaac Vineberg and freshman Juliana Martin as Mrs. Savage’s stepchildren, and senior Maya Klein as the lead character Mrs. Ethel Savage. “The play that was chosen is probably one of the best of the plays I have been involved in. There is a lot of subtle humor in it, and it has a pretty good message. I actually really enjoy acting for this play, although it is definitely a lot more work than previous ones because there are a lot of people on stage at once. I really enjoy spending time with the other people involved in the play as well as having the opportunity to put on the mask of somebody else successfully,” said cast member Joey Wolf. Along with students involved in the play on stage, there are many people who work behind the scenes in the crew backstage. “It is such a blast to work with so many peoiple and to experience the theater. I always have fun and cannot believe this is my last play in high school. I really am going to miss it,” said Tessa Janssen, senior stage manager. The consensus among the cast members is all unanimous: being involved in the play is a great experience. “Aside from being able to act everyday, being in the play is an awesome time to get to know other people at school who you might not have really known before then. I love being able to spend time with all my cast members everyday. It’s a great experience and I would recommend to anyone who likes getting involved at school to audition for the fall play next year,” said Kratowicz. “The play is coming along very nicely. We all had to have our lines memorized by the end of spring break, so now everyone is working very hard to work off book and get everything right in the next few weeks before the production. I think Mrs. Fitz is doing an excellent job this year, like every year, with the drama department. She is a very experienced director, and it is evident that she knows what she is doing,” she said. |