Francis Lewis is known for its wide array of programs offered to students that cater to many interests. These programs allow students to freely express their talents and passions, which includes the reputable drama program.
The drama program at FLHS is a program that has been ongoing for several years, casting a diverse set of students with a passion for acting and attracting a diverse audience with every annual live performance. Casts get to perform thrilling plays, whether it’s a musical or a murder mystery much like this year’s performance of Twelve Angry Men on May 8 & 9. It is an entertaining play featuring 11 ambivalent jurors, with only one standing strong in their long fight for justice. Although theater has endured many changes in the past couple of years, the program continues to satisfy expectations with impressive performances.
“It takes a lot of practice and a lot of going over the scenes, obviously because we are prone to comedy,” Ms. Contino, an English teacher and assistant director of this year’s play Twelve Angry Men, said. “To get through the long hours, a lot of times students…you know, we laugh, we crack jokes, and we fool around and when you have to do scenes that are so tension filled and so serious, it forces you to relax more. It’s just harder for the students. But once they really came into their characters and figured out what they were supposed to be as opposed to themselves, then it helped to do those scenes.”
Students that were cast in this year’s play were also featured in previous plays such as Clue, as they showcased great talent and dedication in the theater program while also being committed to other programs, according to this year’s Director Mr. Green.
“We had a lot of students who were there in previous years, and a lot of students who were involved in other leadership roles,” Mr. Green said. “Those students I kind of relied on to step up in certain ways as far as organizing their domain, and like being in charge of. For example, if they were in charge of props, I needed them to stay on top of that and make sure we had the props that we needed, microphones, costumes, things like that. So working with them was a lot of me giving trust into them and what they’re doing, and their ability to stay on top of that.”
Ms. Contino decided to step down this year as an assistant director to spectate the process and let Mr. Green debut as the main director.
“Conveying my vision was definitely a lot harder as I feel like I would know what I wanted in my head, but I wouldn’t be able to articulate it, or it just wouldn’t come out,” Mr. Green analyzed. “But that just came with time and practice as I learned what I had to say and what I actually wanted from the kids, which was sometimes different from what I thought I wanted. So things just came with trial and error.”
The contentious relationship between Juror 3 and Juror 8 throughout the performance kept the audience on edge as they tried to persuade the other jurors why a boy, who killed his father, deserves justice or condemnation.
“I’d give him [Mr. Green] tips here and there about where students should stand, or flipping the way the set looked a little bit so that we had a little bit more engagement with the audience,” Ms. Contino expressed. “So basically stuff that I had experience with from prior as the director so I could bring that to him as options and let him make final decisions about what he wanted to go with.”
Cast members this year “took on a lot of responsibility without being asked,” to showcase their credible experience and provide aid to Mr. Green as a first time director, Ms. Contino stated.
”The crew this year was pretty amazing,” Ms. Contino said. “They were really small, but they had all, with the exception of two stage managers, all of the crew had worked with me on prior productions. And this year, they really stepped up a lot because they also knew it was Mr. Green’s first year directing. They took on a lot of responsibility without even being asked.”
“They would come in and say ‘hey I finished working on the prop list’ or ‘we found some sound effects that would be great for this scene’ or ‘I made the microphone script’,” Ms. Contino added. “These were things he might have not even known that he had to ask for or do. Because this cast had experience in the past in these productions, they were able to come in and be like ‘I’m taking ownership of this’ and stuff like that.
Actors typically have a set of things that they do before auditions that are crucial and will effectively prepare them, such as doing research on the character they will be playing, familiarizing themselves with lines, and more, Thea Boumakis, a senior who played ‘Juror four’ discussed this in further detail.
“When I first found out that the show was Twelve Angry Men I had to actually watch the movie itself to understand what the plot was and the characters to get an idea of how I wanted to audition, and how I wanted my audition to come off to the directors.” Boumakis recalled. “I even had to practice my lines when I was out because of the surgery I had on my foot, and I attended rehearsals over the phone while I couldn’t walk anywhere in my house. I even spent all of my spring break in Florida reading my lines on the beach!”
According to the ‘wallacefoundation.org’, in the year of 2021, there was a notable drop of 88 percent of total ticket income for theaters. Ms. Contino addressed a similar change in theater at FLHS over the past couple of years.
“Post covid, we sort of scaled down a little bit because things just changed socially and things just changed with expectations for the building,” Ms. Contino said. “So we started doing these smaller plays which require smaller casts. Instead of having forty people working on them, we have twenty people. But I think theater is still really important, not just at Francis Lewis, but in general because it does so much for us as audience members. This is in terms of empathy, and really understanding characters and people that go through things similar to us that we can relate to.”
“It’s also really stimulating for your brain, and socially, and for your memorization skills, and brings people joy and entertainment,” Ms. Contino added. “Just that feeling you get at the end of it when you’ve put something together that took so long, and seeing it all come together is just really rewarding and confidence building. I think everybody should consider doing something in theater, even if it’s just being a part of the crew and not actually acting, as the community that’s built through theatre, I think is really critical.”
Mr. Green noted the importance of “building a sense of community that incentivizes kids to come to rehearsal,” and make cast members realize the purpose and value of well conducted rehearsals.
“Some students would have either conflicts in their schedule or would just not come to rehearsal, things like that,” Mr. Green said. “So it was a constant struggle trying to get the full cast together to rehearse. The way we overcame that was… I had to make changes, make kids realize that they were going to have to dedicate a lot of time to the program. I think building a sense of community that incentivizes kids to come to rehearsal really makes it easier for them to show up on time.”
Boumakis does a thorough analysis of her character who sided with Juror three’s claim that the boy deserved punishment for killing his father in the majority of the play, alongside the tension filled scenes relating to jurors uncovering how true the words of the old man, the sole witness, were. The show’s execution was putting the jurors in the old man’s feet, checking that what he said matches up to the evidence presented.
“Juror four wasn’t as angry as the other angry men,” Boumakis said. “They definitely were more focused on the facts, not just the opinions of other characters. This was unlike Juror 3 who was more driven by his anger and his goal of persuading the others that there was reasonable doubt in the particular case… and they were a very intelligent and persuasive juror that made sure that the story was accurate.”
Having a strong connection with cast mates enhanced the performances of every cast mate and allowed for the production of a fulfilling show, according to Boumakis stated.
“I learnt the value of having a strong connection with my cast mates as this show was unique,” Boumakis said. “This show didn’t have two leads with the rest being ensemble, we all had our fair share of lines and prominence in the show. And there weren’t any scene changes, so it was a straight run through of speaking our dialogue. So getting to know my cast mates better and learning to be more comfortable with them on the stage really changed the production experience from just reading lines off of paper to an actual fulfilling show.”
