TORRINGTON – Goshen County School District Thespian Troupe 757 performed their spring musical, Changing Minds, last Thursday evening, Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
Following state drama in the fall, the spring musical is their final production of the school year, according to director Erin Jespersen.
This is Jespersen’s sixth year working with the thespian troupe.
Upon looking through shows from the theater licensing groups she normally uses, nothing stood out for the particular group of students involved in theatre this year.
The group found Changing Minds, and according to Jespersen.
“This one just popped out,” Jespersen said.
Jespersen said there is a core group of students involved in drama every year. Even with this core group, “we get new students every year,” she said.
All but one of the male performers is new this year. She said most would have been new last spring for The Wizard of Oz, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“They got all the way to three weeks from production, but they never got to perform onstage,” Jespersen said.
Originally developed for high school productions, Changing Minds explores a mind swap between two high school students.
Theatrical Rights Worldwide’s website describes the plot:
“At Playa Sola High School, it’s business as usual – the jocks, geeks, popular kids, etc., all try to navigate a world of insecurities, grades, fashions and text messages. Then, during a school trip to a historic mission, the minds of two high school seniors are inexplicably switched. Suddenly, Kyle Fairbanks, a charismatic slacker/surfer is helping everyone with their calculus, and scholastic superstar Natalie Watson has become an expert on heavy metal lyrics and is calling everybody ‘dude.’”
This show, according to Jespersen, is not well known. In addition to enjoying the large cast and plot of Changing Minds, she thought costuming would be less challenging than other shows.
Students brought in many of their own clothes to wear as costumes.
With masks being required by the high school, wearing them worked well with Changing Minds, which is set in a high school.
“We had a lot of freshmen this year, which is wonderful,” Jespersen said. The last few years, trying to build camaraderie with the middle school’s theatre group has helped.
One of these freshmen was Juliana Russell who played Christina.
“She’s a small role, but as a freshman, if you get any lines, it’s really good,” Russell said.
After being in productions with the middle school, it was natural for Russell to decide to perform with the high school troupe.
Russell said she had also been looking forward to the opportunity to perform with her older brother, Gabe Russell, who played Brad in this show.
The cast, according to Russell, rehearsed for about three months before opening night.
“At first, you come once or twice a week, and the last two months, you’re here every day,” she said.
Junior Tabitha Douglass played Natalie, one of the show’s lead roles.
According to Douglass, Natalie is book smart and often likes to focus on her future. Then, “when she switches brains, she turns into Kyle,” she said.
Jespersen said in this show she thought the students delivered jokes well.
Douglass recalled her favorite line as Kyle:
“I only ate ten Twinkies, so why am I sick?”
For Douglass, getting to play two characters with different personalities and mannerisms was a lot of fun.
“I’m actually a lot more similar to Kyle,” she noted. “He’s a lot more chill.”
Douglass said one of the most exciting parts about this show is simply getting to perform in front of an audience again, after last spring’s show was cancelled.
Changing Minds looked fun to Douglass because of the opportunity to play a character going through the same stage of life. She said she was able to have a better understanding of what her character went through on a daily basis.
Russell said she enjoyed the slang used in the show, particularly the word, “dude.”
Both Russell and Douglass agreed opening night went well. Russell described backstage before the show as extremely energetic. To make it to opening night this year was a big deal, Russell explained.
“I think that might have been the best opening night that I’ve ever been involved in,” Douglass said about the Thursday performance.
She recalled the high energy onstage and students doing well on their lines.
Douglass and Russell said they were challenged in different ways. For Russell, it was the exhaustion of performances and singing for theatre.
“I didn’t grow up singing,” she explained.
Douglass said it was challenging to balance rehearsals with preparing for the ACT but has been thankful for the support shown to her from her castmates.
After the show, performers rush offstage and stand outside the auditorium doors to interact with audience members. Douglass said the cast members compliment each other and give critiques if needed.
“We have a great adult staff,” Jespersen said.
Behind the scenes are people connected in different ways, friends, community members, parents.
To help with some of the technical parts of the show, “we drag our spouses in,” set director Christine Quillen said.
Quillen noted this is the first year the group has used projections as part of the set.
Jespersen said she is usually exhausted at the end of a show, but “this show came together so beautifully that I’m already looking for something to do next year.”
