The Munster Theatre Company of Munster High School is pleased to present its first production of the season, Bel Kaufman drama, Up the Down Staircase. Produced by Larry & Carol Lynn Brechner, this full-length, student directed production will feature Munster High School seniors Laurel Demokovich and Maddie O’Dea as co-directors, with Rohan Chatterjee providing live musical underscoring, and Ethan Courtney as Assistant Director.
The Novice production features the talents of about twenty new freshman and sophomore actors (or juniors or seniors who have never been on stage before).
Based on Bel Kaufman’s own experiences as a young, inner-city school teacher, it is a bittersweet drama about Sylvia Barrett (Alyssa DeJoan), an idealistic, first-year English language teacher at an inner-city high school, who hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature.
Sylvia quickly becomes discouraged during her first year of teaching, frustrated by layers of rules and bureaucracy. She is befriended by Beatrice Schachter (Alex Raycroft), an energetic, enthusiastic teacher, who is a little older and more experienced, who mentors Sylvia.
Sylvia reaches out to encourage Joe Ferone (Alex Ramirez) a hostile, yet handsome young man with a high I.Q., who is failing almost every subject. He has a rough home life, so he does not trust or believe anyone - especially adults like J. J. McCabe (Antoine VanDyke), the dean in charge of discipline who has little tolerance for the violation of rules. Joe often finds himself at odds with McCabe.
Paul Barringer (David Green) is a young English teacher who is very much admired by the female students at the school, especially Alice Blake (Mariah Villaroman) a romantic, sensitive student who develops a huge crush on Mr. Barringer. Paul feels teaching is only temporary hoping to be a serious writer so he can leave teaching as soon as he is "discovered" as an author.
Sylvia exchanges letters with her best friend back home, Ellen (Taylor Merkel), who offers advice and support to her frustrated friend.
Based on Bel Kaufman’s 1965 novel, Up the Down Staircase was adapted for a 1967 film version starring Sandy Dennis as Sylvia, and adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel. The play version is a mainstay of Regional, Community and High School theater repertoire.
Up the Down Staircase will run Thursday and Friday October 9 & 10 at 7pm in the Munster Auditorium. Tickets are $5 at the door and are available at the Auditorium Box Office on performance nights or by calling: (219) 838-2235 or by email apkinser@munaud.org
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