In the spring of 2023, the Mount Carmel Drama Department returned after a pandemic hiatus and performed a theater festival with several short acts. The performances were a big hit with the audience, but surely nobody thought they would be putting on a two-hour performance in a modern performing arts center on campus just two years later, right?
Starting last fall, Fine Arts teacher and director Mr. KC Perlberg and the MC actors started brainstorming on what play they should do this school year. After a few weeks of table reading various plays, they agreed on A Few Good Men, first produced for the stage in 1989 and later made into a hit film. The play fits perfectly for students to perform in the brand-new Barry-Hughes Performing Arts Center. A mix of returning actors like seniors Jason Isais, Leonard Siegal, Dominic Mancilla, Angelo Correa, and Aiden Correa, sophomore Myles Hankton, and teacher Mr. Tim Baffoe ‘00, as well as newcomers RJ Risos, Bryce Mason, Aaron Hyler, Garrett Mann, Payton Skalnik, teacher Dr. Jon Berry, and multiple freshmen will all be on stage in the wartime drama. The play will run on Thursday, May 1, and Saturday, May 3, at 7pm and Sunday, May 4, at 2pm.
When Mr. Perlberg and the actors first started meeting in the fall, they had not even thought about the play itself yet. They simply wanted to test what kind of performance they were comfortable with.
“We spent a lot of the fall reading through scripts as a way to grow as actors,” Mr. Perlberg said. “We sat down and took a huge pool, then narrowed it down to a couple [plays] that would work.”
That is when they decided on A Few Good Men. The production follows military attorneys tasked with representing two U.S. Marines who are charged with murdering another Marine at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
“The central question of this is one that has been a topic of discussion since the end of World War II,” Mr. Perlberg says. “Who is responsible when atrocities are committed in a military context: the people who did them, or the people who ordered them? At its heart, it’s a play about where we find morality.”
When Risos, who plays attorney Lt. Daniel Kaffee, first heard about the play, he was hesitant to fully commit to it. He was planning on playing volleyball again in the spring, and he did not even have any prior theater experience.
“Someone told me about it, and I figured I might as well give it a try,” he said. “So I went in there, did the audition, and I ended up getting the lead role.”
However, once he started studying his eventual character, he took a keen interest in pursuing it.
“There’s this dialogue from my character where he’s lamenting about his father and regretting not being a better son,” he said. “I thought that was a very interesting dynamic that just stuck with me.”
Many of the seniors have taken Risos under their wing and molded him into the actor he is at this point. One of those seniors is Jason Isais, who played the lead role in last year’s play, A Separate Peace. His character is Lt. Sam Weinberg. He feels that the cast is more than ready for May 1.
“I’ve seen us improve dramatically in articulation and speaking skills, especially with movement,” Isais said. “Mr. Perlberg allows us to receive [constructive] criticism from anybody who is observing the people who are up doing their scene.”
Mr. Perlberg’s techniques are both improving the students as actors but also giving them enjoyment in the process of preparing for the play.
“I believe that he really gave life to the drama program here,” Isais said. “I wanted that experience again, especially after last year.”
The most impactful change this year is certainly the new performing arts center. The space has totally remodeled what the MC theater experience looks like for both the audience and the actors. With a new adjustable stage made of raised table-like structures, the crew can mold the stage into whatever setting they like. Above the stage lies several area microphones that receive audio from the actors and relay it throughout the room. Additionally, new multicolor lights were placed so that characters could be positioned in multiple positions across the stage.
Senior James McCormac, the lighting director, has been working on the technological side of the drama program since his sophomore year and is impressed with the modern improvements.
“It’s come such a long way,” McCormac said. “We can light up different sections of the stage, and I can easily set up lights for the next scene. It’s really just a massive difference in terms of technology we have this year compared to last year.”
As the play rapidly approaches, the anticipation is building up on 64th and Dante. The crew has built strong bonds over the last several months, and they have formed a family similar to those in the various storied athletic programs in the school. With this, they cannot wait to put on a show for the audience.
“This is the very first year that the MC students are going to do a play on the new stage,” Isais said. “I believe that this is going to be one of the best if not the best, performances that we will do on the stage here.”
