december 2015

4
Culture
The Secret in the Barn
The mystery behind what makes MPH’s theater program so good
By Chris Hunter
Fifteen Manlius Pebble Hill
actors stand in a semi-circle on the
stage in Coville Theater warming
up for play rehearsal earlier this fall.
Their director, Corinne Tyo, leads
them through their exercises.
First, the students swivel their
hips in the form of SpongeBob
SquarePants’ “Bring It Around
Town” move. Then, they move their
hands back and forth through the air
like Mr. Miyagi’s iconic “Wax On,
Wax Off.”
While they warm up, the actors
crack jokes with each other and with
Tyo; it seems like they all have been
friends for years. Doing such fun exercises
together helps the actors and
actresses bond.
Like most high schools, the MPH
theater program puts on an Upper
School play and musical for the community
every year. During rehearsals,
actors, actresses, and the tech crew
spend hours and hours together for
weeks, which builds relationships
and tight friendships.
Play practice typically lasts for
several hours every day after school,
and as the day of the play approaches,
cast and crew spend up to eight
hours rehearsing on the weekends.
Such an intense experience with such
a small group creates strong bonds
among cast members that helps make
the theater department’s plays and
musicals among the best in the area.
That’s one of the reasons why MPH
won several awards at last year’s
inaugural 2015 Syracuse High School
Theater Awards.
“I think it’s about our ensemble
and the family feeling that we have as
a group,” said Michele Koziara, the
Performing Arts Department Chair.
“Everyone really pulls their weight
and everyone’s totally committed.”
MPH won three awards out of
the 11 for which it was nominated for
last year’s musical “Cabaret,” which
was directed by Koziara. Koziara
won Outstanding Achievement in
Choreography; Rupert Krueger
won Outstanding Performance by
an Actor in a Leading Role; and the
program won Outstanding Overall
Production of a Musical.
“I knew we had something
special with the cast and crew that
we had,” Koziara said. “I was very
confident with who I had to work
with last year.”
This past October, the MPH crew
performed “The Secret in the Wings”
by Mary Zimmerman. The play is a
re-telling of four lesser-known fairy
tales and included a lot of humor,
some singing and rapping and physical
movements, all of which were
much easier for the actors to perform
since they’re doing it with close
friends.
“This play is very cast-bonding,”
said junior Lydia Kelly. “There’s a lot
of trust within us.”
In the spring, MPH will perform
the musical “Urinetown” by playwright
Greg Kotis. The back of the
script describes it as “A grand and
winking love letter to the conventions
of musical theater, and an untempered
satire wherein no one is safe
from scrutiny. Urinetown depicts a
world wracked by ecological disaster,
caught in the throes of corporate
greed, and ultimately felled by the
best intentions.”
One benefit of a smaller cast is
the ability to choose more off-beat
or artistic plays, which also allows
the actors to really dive into the text.
Koziara said she allows the students
to put their own stamp on their roles,
rather than directing them through
every aspect.
“A lot of schools, because they’re
so big, you have 80 people casts, I
don’t know if they’re able to get that
deep into what the show is about,”
she said.
Tyo, who is also a Syracuse Stage
Teaching Artist, agrees.
“My favorite thing is watching
the actors take on the show themselves
and really molding it into what
they want it to be,” she said.
But performing such shows also
offers challenges. Last year’s awardwinning
production of “Cabaret,”
a musical about a love triangle set in
Berlin in the 1930s, raised some eyebrows.
Syracuse.com even received
a letter from a reader stating that the
content and costumes of Cabaret
was inappropriate for high-school
students. More than 300 comments,
many in support of the play, followed.
Several of the show’s actors
pointed out how much preparation
they had done to ensure the historical
accuracy of the show, including
receiving a lecture from Head of
Upper School John Stegeman on the
Weimar Republic and World War II.
Though some topics are controversial,
Koziara said she uses every
production as a learning experience.
Back in 2009, MPH performed
“Hair;” a musical set in the 1960s
about a man who meets a group of
freewheeling hippies. Koziara said
she had a mandatory meeting with
the actors and their parents about the
play’s content and the fact that they
would be discussing sex and drugs
onstage. Parents are also made aware
of controversial subject matter on
mandatory permission slips.
During preparation for “Hair,”
for example, the cast, crew and pit
band took a trip to Woodstock; someone
from the Veterans Association
came to speak about the Vietnam
War and an expert came to speak
about sex and drug use in the 60s.
When the cast performed “Rent,”
someone from ACR Health come to
speak about HIV/AIDS.
She said there are never any
scenes or productions that are done
just to be controversial and she is
grateful for the opportunities that
MPH allows.
“Here at MPH, I feel like I have
fantastic support for artistic freedom,”
she said.
While there are benefits to the
small cast, there are also challenges,
such as finding enough boys to fill
the male roles. Girls often play male
roles, and boys sometimes play
female roles. But Kelly says that
doesn’t deter the actors and actresses.
“I really trust the people who I
work with outside of school on the
plays because in a way they see me
when I’m most vulnerable,” Kelly
said.
Even with MPH’s financial issues
of last year, there was little change in
the theater program’s routine. According
to Koziara, the MPH theater
doesn’t spend much money. Every
year, the screws and wood from the
previous year’s play are saved and
reused. The theater program is very
green with the materials they have,
and they work with the set very well.
The play and musical change
year to year, but the passion to put on
a good play remains within the artists
who join the cast.
“I still got to hang out with a lot
of these incredibly talented people,
have a great time, put on a good
show,” said senior Seamus Mulhern.
Photo courtesy of Alex Koziara
Left to right: Emery Spina and Maggie Carmen acting out a scene from “The Secret in the Wings.”