NEWPORT–North Country Union High School was the site of one of the Vermont State Regional One Act Festivals on Saturday, with the Falcons serving as the hosts.
Five schools, NCU, Milton, BFA Fairfax, Lamoille, and Peoples Academy were scheduled to be in attendance, hoping to advance to the State Festival to be held in April.
With the inclement weather late Friday into Saturday, Milton had to drop out, leaving four schools fighting for two spots at States.
Unfortunately for the Falcon Faithful, North Country would not be one of the two schools selected, as Peoples and BFA Fairfax were chosen by the judges to advance.
Both winners opted to perform comedies, as BFA went with Jason Pizzarello and Kathryn Funkhoser’s “Knock Knock”, and the Wolves performed “Kimberly Akimbo” by David Lindsey-Abaire.
The Falcons went in the opposite direction, going for a deeply emotional drama, and some might say their performance of “Just Like I Wanted” by Becca Schlossberg was the most emotional performance of the day.
The show deals with the complex issue of teenage suicide, and it tells the tale of Joey, performed by Lyla Hardin, and his heart-wrenching journey and eventual decision to take his own life.
Prior to their performance, the audience was warned that the show was very heavy, and that there were mental health specialists on hand if anybody needed to talk during or after the show.
With that in mind, the lights went down and the show began.
North Country’s actors gave forth a masterful and stirring performance, eliciting a wide-range of emotion from the crowd.
Tears flowed, some people left to go outside of the auditorium and regroup, and when the show was over, the Falcons received a well-deserved ovation after giving everything they had in the tank to the audience and the judges.
“There are many people I am grateful for in helping me organize, plan, and execute this event, but I am especially grateful for our cast and crew members,” said NCU dance and drama head and co-director Taryn Colby. “They pushed me out of my comfort zone by asking and pushing to do a show that was very heavy and ultimately, showed how tone deaf adults can be in their lives. I personally had a really hard time processing this show at times, but it was clear from the beginning that these kids were passionate about telling this story. And it’s my job as their director to advocate for their voices to be heard and guide them through this tough material. It was our goal from the start to produce this production in a meaningful and intentional way. The cast was thoughtful, sensitive, and professional in their approach. I’m so very proud of them and everything that they put into this show. But I’m happy to hear that they want to produce a comedy next!”
Directing along side Colby was senior Neo Walsh, who also directed last year’s one act show, “Cry of the Peacock”.
After all of the other schools left, and the day was winding down, we caught up with two of the performers, Hardin, and Baylee King, who with less than 10 days to go, was asked to take over the role of Ron, one of the more prominent characters who clashes with Hardin’s Joey.
“It was kind of intense at first,” said Hardin when asked about taking on the role of Joey. “It was a little difficult because once I got the role it sunk in that this subject means something to people. Suicide is a very prevalent issue in our world right now, and it meant a lot to me that I did it right, that I performed well, and that I brought the character to life, to not only do justice to the character, but to some degree do justice to all of the people who have gone through the experience.”
Hardin, who has excelled at the comedic side of things, says preparing for this role was a lot different than other roles she has taken on.
“It was a lot of focusing on the message, instead of trying to be goofy,” she said. “I tried to get feedback from castmates who have been affected by this because I haven’t, so it was important for me to learn through the feedback of others.”
Turning to King, she spoke first on what she had to do when it was announced that she was taking over the roll of Ron.
“I was pretty excited, because he was one of the roles that I auditioned for in the beginning, and looking over the lines and realizing the character I had to pick up, it was hard for me, being one week from the show, to put myself in the scenario where I am a really mean person who was making everyone’s life miserable.”
She also discussed performing a show with such a serious subject matter, saying, “It was definitely a challenge. I went into it hoping to really send the message of suicide awareness and how (suicide) can affect people, and just how it is. Definitely difficult because it is such a hard topic, but it was important enough that I was really dedicated to it.”
After each show there was a student forum held, and when the Falcons took to the stage after their performance, the feedback was incredible, especially from the Lamoille troupe.
One student even suggested that tissues be handed out prior to the show getting underway.
Said Hardin on the reaction from other schools, “It meant a lot to hear it because it meant I did my job, and it meant that I did make that connection, that we made that connection, and that was really important.”
Hardin admitted that she too had to fight back tears on Saturday, especially during the funeral scene.
Although North Country did not advance, they did receive some awards at the festival.
Collective the cast was honored for their “Expression of Tragedy”, Hardin, King, and Ellah Dillon were recognized for their performances, Walsh for his directing, Ava Prue for her lighting, and the tech crew was also recognized.
For those that could not make it out to the festival on Saturday, the public will have another opportunity to catch this powerful performance, and that will be on Wednesday evening at 6:00 when the cast will dig down deep one more time to perform this amazing and important show.
