Photograph by Douglas Rider
Greasing Around: Pictured in the back row (from left to right) are Lincoln High School seniors Steven House, Joe Rommereim, and Jimmy Snell; sophomore Kyle Knies and sophomore Kelly Bonin, in the middle. Pictured in the front row (from left to right), are sophomore Molly Tavella, senior Carey McCray, freshman JoAnn Orr and junior Shelly Geiszler. The students are part of the school's prestigious musical theater group, which is making its second trip to the Edinburgh "Fringe" theater festival in August to perform its spring musical Grease. The festival is the largest in the world.
Students taking their play across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom
Willow Glen residents at Lincoln High School to perform in 'Grease'
By Kate Carter
About 70 high school performers are busy breaking their backs preparing to break a leg at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe theater festival--the largest in the world--in Scotland this summer.
Lincoln High School's prestigious musical theater group will be making its second trip to the "Fringe" in August to perform its production of the musical Grease. In the group will be 11 Willow Glen residents--sophomore Kelly Bonin, 16, is a member of the ensemble; sophomore Alysa Cooper, 15, is in the ensemble; junior Shelley Geiszler, 17, plays Patty; senior Steven House, 17, is in the ensemble; sophomore Kyle Knies, 16, is in the ensemble; senior Carey McCray, 18, plays Rizzo; freshman JoAnn Orr, 15, is in the ensemble; senior Joe Rommereim, 17, is a scenic artist; senior Jimmy Snell, 17, plays Rodger; sophomore Molly Tavella, 15, is in the ensemble; and junior Mike Thompkins, 17, is in the orchestra.
For the past 25 years, high school groups across the United States can be chosen once every two years. Two years ago, Lincoln was the first high school from the Bay Area to attend the Fringe. It became the first high school group ever to receive the highest rating from the daily newspaper The Scotsman, which it won for its performance of Once on This Island, an updated version of Hans Christian Andersen's story The Little Mermaid.
The theater department director, Charles Manthe, applied for the group to attend again this summer, and its acceptance was announced at Lincoln's talent show last May. Auditions for the spring musical were held at the beginning of the school year, and auditioning students knew they were in for a long-term commitment--every participant in the show is expected to raise the $4,300 necessary to attend the Fringe.
"Every single person is part of the show," McCray says. "Everyone's just as important. Every person has a job."
But just being a part of Lincoln High School's performing arts is a commitment. The school holds about 10 different shows a year, and many of the performers are in more than one of them. Students put in 15 to 30 hours a week for three or four months to prepare for a show, in addition to keeping up with their classes.
The group also has to pay for the rights to every show, the set and stage design, the music and the costumes. They are already familiar with fundraising, the students say, and they also receive help from Manthe, their parents and the Theater Booster Club.
The students say they are learning to become professional performers, are taught professional techniques and held to professional standards. They learn to take tough criticism and value recognition, and they are proud of their achievements. And while it's fun, they say, there is plenty of work to do as well. Many of the students have aspirations of becoming professional performers or instructors in the field.
Grease ensemble member House made a tough choice and gave up baseball this year to perform with the group and go to Scotland. He had played on the team since he was a freshman and had been looking forward to playing with his younger brother, Kevin, this year.
But he was also interested in drama, had taken some drama classes, and finally made the tough decision in December to become a member of the Grease ensemble.
"I just couldn't do both; I didn't want to give 50-50," he says. "The chance to go to Scotland for two weeks with my best friends was an opportunity that I felt was better than baseball."
Photograph by Douglas Rider
Grease is the Word: These Lincoln High School students and Willow Glen residents are part of the school's popular musical theater group, which is making its second trip to the Edinburgh 'Fringe' theater festival in August to perform its spring musical Grease.
The Grease cast and crew began rehearsing in December and put on six sold-out performances in March. The group says the run was the school's first ever to be sold out before a single performance.
Now they are using the interim period of time to raise money for the trip by organizing car washes and bake sales, selling concessions at the Compaq Center, getting part-time jobs, and, as Geiszler did, writing to television personality Rosie O'Donnell in the hopes that she might help out and even put them on her talk show. By now the students need to have raised about half of their money, with the rest due in June.
"It's not a sacrifice; it's an honor," Geiszler says. "It's a financial issue, but it's all worth it in the end."
That "end" is giving four two-hour performances at Edinburgh's Churchill Theatre, which students who went last time say is a far cry from their school "theater"--the converted cafeteria.
"It just smells different," McCray says. "This doesn't have that theater smell," she adds, gesturing to Lincoln's small stage and seating space.
"It's the first time being on a real stage," Snell says. "It may cost a lot of money, but maybe sometimes that's what it takes."
For McCray, the value of participating in Lincoln's rigorous program and going to the Fringe is evident as she plans for her future. She has been accepted by New York University's prestigious theater program this fall, and she attributes her success to a passion she discovered performing in her last Fringe.
"When I started [at Lincoln], I was so scared to audition for anything," she says. "The whole Scotland experience really changed me. Last year, we did West Side Story, and I really wanted to be Maria, so I did lots of research on the show."
She ended up getting the lead part as a junior, attended a nine-week American Musical Theater (AMT) camp over the summer and was nominated by AMT San Jose for an Outstanding Performer Award for her performance as Rizzo in Grease.
"Theater is such a risky thing," McCray says. "But I learned that musical theater is what I love doing. I'm onstage and performing and I realize that I'm worth it. It's worth it to me. I feel like I'm the luckiest girl right now."
The cast will be performing in several "bon voyage" performances this summer. For more information about those or about contributing to the trip, contact Charles Manthe by phone, at 408.535.6300, extension 361, or by email, at chuck_manthe@sjusd.k12.ca.us.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
