"Circle Dance," an Original Film by the Falmouth Academy Theater Department

PREMIERE May 21, 8 PM Written and Directed by Elisabeth Munro Ledwell & Cast Produced by Falmouth Academy

Falmouth Academy's

CIRCLE DANCE Director's Note When all the theatres in America closed in the last year, those of us who work with live performances had to rethink the way we could engage in our art. Luckily, Falmouth Academy was blessed with an enthusiastic group of students who signed up for a once-a-week play production elective. We spent the first few weeks of school discussing ways we could perform and have an audience, ultimately settling on writing our own film, which took us through the first trimester. We spent the second trimester filming the scenes we needed, at home and at school.

Our touchstones were the themes of communication, so important in these times of isolation, and family.

We discussed all kinds of communications - letters, phone calls, emails, texts - and how difficult it is for characters to communicate their important feelings. In the fall, we weren’t sure if we would have to return home, so when writing, we tried to focus on scenes that could be filmed in our own houses. Luckily, our classroom scenes were not recorded on zoom, but in a real classroom, socially distanced, one actor at a time, making our editing process a bit of a challenge! (You will see the occasional mask in the background. Kindly ignore it, if you will.)

We took as our touchstone an early improvised letter from a World War II soldier to his sweetheart.

From that, we built a backstory of the Fontaine Family, descendants from this soldier and his sweetheart.

We decided to tell our story from the point of view of a student in the modern world trying to discover her identity by researching her family history through various forms of communication and miscommunication.

For this reason, you will see letters, a beautifully built phone booth (thank you, the stagecraft elective!), slide shows, and even heart-to-heart conversations. Our multigenerational family of characters and their friends know so much more than we are showing you here in our film.

We are, essentially, first-time filmmakers, and the occasional remote session and various devices we used to film meant that, as with all films, we had to improvise occasionally, using our script as a blueprint for the final product. Our theatre lobby doubled as a school space and a vanity in a character’s bedroom.

FA’s band can occasionally be heard in the background, and Dr. Freedman’s office is a blank stage with some comfortable furniture. The school’s kitchen, prop attic, Tower Room, Admissions office, library, and various classroom and outdoor spaces all doubled for rooms we needed in our film. Some students even filmed their scenes at home. Our biggest challenge was compiling all these videos (I think I counted several hundred clips and audio files) and putting them together into a coherent whole. I think we succeeded.

On one of the last few days of filming, one of the students remarked that even if we never edited the film and showed it to the public, the writing, performing, and filming of the film was definitely a worthwhile experience. What more can a teacher ask for?

Liz Ledwell

CAST

CREW

Aubryn Dubois '25: Grey

Ronan Cazeault '26

Dillon Fondren '25: Bennett

Bobby Frigon '23

Adele Francis '24: Evie Fontaine

Elizabeth Jazo '26

David Gallagher '25: Clark

Dhara Sananikone-Evans '26

Sophie Gaughan '26: Ashley

Bodhi Talbot '26

Ben Giumetti '23: Gordon Fontaine

Sam Thrasher '22

Lucia Gomez-Ibanez '24: Mrs. Locke

Will Thrasher '26

Marcus Greco '24: Recruiter Fiona Gully '24: Grandma Marjory

PRINCIPLE CINEMATOGRAPHER

Alexa Hartman '24: Chloe Fontaine Marcus Greco '24 Ursula Junker '23: Joy Fontaine & with lots of help from the cast Dr. Freedman and Ethan Plotkin ‘25 Arden O’Neil '26: Hayley Sarah Plotkin '22: Susie

DESIGN

Ethan Pratt '22: Jake Adwell

Sound: Mrs. Elisabeth Munro Ledwell & Cast

MUSIC CREDITS

Cover Art:

Circle Dance, Bonnie Raitt

Aubryn Dubois '25 & Ursula Junker '23

Circle Game, Joni Mitchell

Phonebooth Set:

We Didn’t Start the Fire, Billy Joel

Stagecraft Elective

Stardust, Glenn Miller

Film Editing: Mr. Charlie Jodoin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS George Scharr, Olivia Riddiford, Sarah Knowles, Julie Bradley, Leslie Walters, Pam Hinkle, Amy Galvam, Dave Gallagher, Barbara Campbell, Susan Moffat, Theo Harding '25, and the Buildings and Grounds Crew, and the families of the cast