Cast Chosen for SHS Fall Play
Written by Rebecca Andrews, Former Student on Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Senior Melly Gary landed the lead of Alice in this winter’s play Alice in Wonderland, during auditions, which were October 6-8. The auditions yielded the cast of over 30 students for the SHS winter play on October 9. The students who auditioned had to perform a one-minute monologue that was either comical or dramatic. The judges were SHS alumni Tori Cooper and the Drama advisor/director Dana Oppelt.
Gary has been involved and dedicated to drama from middle school through her whole high school life. She has played many roles, including the carpenter in Mid-Summer’s Night’s Dream, the second auctioneer in The Auctioneers, Arlene in The Spelling Bee, and a principle dancer in Cinderella.
Even though Gary is a seasoned drama participant, who taught at the drama work shop for preparing students for the auditions, she still spent a lot of time and effort preparing. “I found a monologue a week before,” she says, “and I figured out how [my character] thought, about their life, and who’d they’d be. Then I practiced over and over, especially in front of mirrors.”
Gary felt that her audition was very successful. “Sometimes you walk out [of the audition] knowing it went well. I was a little worried because I played an insane person, and the director asked me to say my piece again in a sweet lullaby-ish voice.”
“I’m so excited,” Gary continues. “I like how throughout the play, [Alice] grows in confidence. She is a little crazy; she doesn’t know it, but she is subtly mad. I love how she develops.”
Other leads were Senior Marshall Peterson as the Mad Hatter, Senior Dylan Strehle as the Cheshire Cat, Junior Kelsie Watkins as the White Rabbit, Junior Katarina Lopez-Mobilla as the Queen of Hearts, and Sophomore Sarah Sapadin as the Caterpillar.
The play will be performed in January.
