High school drama students to present ‘Dear Phoebe’
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The snow is melting and spring is in the air and that means it’s time for the East Troy High School Drama Club to gear up for its spring production.
The “last hurrah” for the Drama Club’s seniors, the murder-mystery comedy is shaping up and the kids are excited to be on stage again.
“It’s bittersweet for us seniors,” Wyatt Miller said. “It’s our last show together, but we’ve been having so much fun.”
The play chronicles the experiences of Bill Hastings, who is hired by the Daily Star as the advice to the lovelorn columnist “Aunt Phoebe.” Complications ensue when Hasting gets a letter implicating a nightclub owner in a sports scandal. Hastings, dressed as Phoebe, goes after the story with lovely reporter Mickey. The informant is murdered and they must solve the crime before the morning deadline. Hilarity abounds in this adaptation from the 1950s television series.
“We really over play our characters in this,” Miller said. “It’s old school and very stereotypical.”
“It’s based on this 50s TV show, so it’s very ‘of the time,’” senior Katie Aldred added.
The cast lost a week of practice because of bad weather last month, but it doesn’t seem to have fazed the students.
“I’m actually surprised it’s going so well,” senior Cole Marcinkevic said. “We’ve got our lines down and we’re excited to get this on stage.”
The Drama Students said they are enjoying the time period of the play and have been having fun with the costumes and props.
“It’s been a blast,” crewmember Shelby Cieslik said. “We get to hang out together like a family and have fun dressing up and working with the props.”
Without giving away too much, the students said they are hoping to pack the house when in production next weekend.
“I hope they have as much fun watching us as we are on stage,” Miller said.
“And expect the unexpected,” Marcinkevic added.
Cast and crew
Brooke Schubert as Mickey Riley, Matthew Gilgenbach as Bill Hastings, Wyatt Miller as G.R. Fosdick, Zoe Dignan as the Copy Girl, Grace Bird as Maude Miller, Ashlyn Dent as Sandra Winchell, Hailey Donohoue as Victoria Parrish, Morgan Madish as Patsy Connor, Katie Aldred as Rochelle Mignonne, Rorye Cieslik as Olga, Cole Marcinkevic as Rocky Gilbert, Robert Thomas as Windy Hill and Kellen Woods as Big Joe Moroni.
Stage Manager Emma Theys, Assistant Stage ManagerZach Preiser and Luke Peterson, sound/lights.
Behind the scenes crew members (set, stage, props, costumes, makeup, marketing, ticket sales) are: Marilyn Bartlett, Jack Bennett, Shelby Cieslik, Jersey Cieslik, Kirsten Chase, Margaux Damske, Aurelia Evrard, Rhiannon Flintrop, Hailey Grigg, Josh Gruber, Alec Marcinkevic, Skyler Nellessen, Levi Orgas, Hailey Pritzlaff, Jenna Raymond, Marcus SeVilla, John Veselka and Jenna Zabel.
Deb Williamson is directing the play.
