Joseph Welch ‘16 and Frances Gross ‘18
Providence Debuts a Play Written for PHS Drama Students By: Suzie Soghoyan ‘13
N
ot every school can say they’re having the world
present in reality had a subconscious shadow that Lily could see. For instance, Dr. Mitzi, Lily’s neurotic psychiatrist, had a flashy Italian woman following her and blurting out her true thoughts. The glitch referred to in the title is Lily’s ability to actually hear, not only her own voices, but the voices in other people’s heads. The climax of the story reaches its peak when Lily’s step-father is mysteriously murdered while running on the beach. From then, a whole load of adventures begin to unfold as Lily tries to clear her brother’s name of the crime. Both casts were equally brilliant while being so different.
premiere of a play as their fall production. On November 13th, a coming-of-age story, Lily the Glitch, made its world debut at PHS’s very own theatre in the round. With a sold out house, students of Providence High Arts Drama took the stage and presented the audience this fantasy, comedy, murder-mystery, adventure of a show which was specifically inspired by and written for them. With the leading role double cast between Emily Ervolina ‘17, and Frances Gross ‘18, there was a different show each night. However, the riveting excitement of the show was steady through the whole run. The play itself is set inside the mind of Lily, a 15-year-old girl who is coming to terms with the world and who she is in it. She’s confused and caught off guard by the voices in her head and the directions they’re leading her. Being on stage the whole time, Lily takes the audience to a number of places; the beach, her dad’s house, a public detective’s office, a fencing competition, and even a yacht. It’s an understatement to say the audience had fun. Lily the Glitch was interactive with the crowd, using the aisles and rows and breaking the fourth wall. During set changes, the audience was still entertained with what seemed to be dream sequences portrayed by four fencers. Each character who was Pioneer Connections
Director Jeremy Kent Jackson, and producer Dominic Catrambone, brought on board Christopher Piehler, playwright and stand-up comedian, to create a show with all of the ideas and concepts our students wanted to portray on stage. Surveys and questionnaires were handed out to the young actors in order to make sense of what direction to take the show. “They dumped a whole bunch of stuff on us, from shadow puppetry to murder-mystery to ‘I want to play a character who dies on stage’,” said Jackson as he reflected back on the beginning stages of the production. When asked what it was like to direct a world premier show Jackson noted that it was “intimidating, to say the 10
