On the evening of May 15, the Middle School presented a production of Ian McWethy’s Bad Auditions by Bad Actors, directed by drama teacher Meghna Gandhi. A one-act comedy, the play takes place in present time in the casting office of a failing community theater during auditions for a production of Romeo and Juliet, auditions which appall the casting directors but delight the audience.

An obnoxious method actor, a child actor driven by an overpowering stage mother, and a performer who just could not figure out what to do with his hands provoked non-stop laughter. A group of dancing and singing cats, an actor intent on performing in Aladdin, and several other disasters added to the hilarity, and the casting directors, aghast at what they are witnessing, increased the growing mayhem on stage.

The 13 actors were all seventh graders who took the Middle School’s Speech and Drama Workshop this semester, while the tech crew and stage-hands were made up of Upper School students and faculty. The show that this collaborative team of Middle and Upper School students presented in the Lecture Hall was impressively seamless and polished. Comic acting, which requires timing, physicality and non-stop collaboration, represents real challenges, and the actors responded with confidence and poise. Moreover, the play is a true ensemble piece, so every actor had their chance to shine.

Gandhi explained that theater “requires an intense amount of focus, commitment, and discipline… a theater ensemble is a group of people that have deep faith in each other and each other’s creativity.”

“As our play came together and our weird and wacky characters started to take shape, the cast has been both brave and vulnerable,” continued Gandhi. “They have taken risks, pushed themselves out of their comfort zones, and practiced kindness and creativity.”

All those involved in this production can take real pride in the success of this worthy endeavor. As she was leaving the theater, Head of School Penny Townsend spoke for everyone lucky enough to have been in the audience, saying simply “Bravo!”