TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2012
FEATURES
Actors sail historically accurate journey
PAGE 15 THE SPOKE
Some leap to celebrate true birthday
Karolis Panavas/The SPOKE
Sophomore Grace Gosnear and English teacher Tricia Ebarvia are both able to celebrate their true birthday on Leap Day, Feb. 29. Courtes y Andre w McK eough
Middle left: Seniors Geoffrey Hegg and Chrissy Bradley as Isidor and Ida Straus. The Strausses were actual passengers on the 1912 voyage. Middle right: Junior Fritz Fischer as Captain Edward John Smith. Smith captained the Titanic on its maiden voyage and perished on the ship.
Aly Mingione Staff Reporter Don’t look for Rose and Jack on board this Titanic. Unlike the 1997 blockbuster film, Conestoga’s spring musical “Titanic: The Musical” is not the romantic tale starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Instead, it tells the true story of the 1912 sinking of the luxury ocean liner. “Titanic: The Musical” incorporates many characters who actually sailed on the Titanic during its maiden voyage 100 years ago. From the set builders to the musicians, everyone involved in ’Stoga’s “Titanic” is working to make this production as historically accurate as possible. “There’s not much of a love story in this musical,” junior Stephen Christner said. In “the movie ‘Titanic,’ the story line is completely different and they get a lot of the historical facts wrong.” Some of the cast members said that portraying their characters is a challenge, but it is important to them to transform the Conestoga stage into an accurate portrayal of the 1912 ocean liner. “We are not just playing a character who was made up out of [someone’s] imagination,” said freshman Noah Berkowitz, who plays the character John Jacob Astor, one of the richest men on the ship. “We’re real people, so we want to try to convey them as realistically as [possible].” The historical accuracy of “Titanic: The Musical” distinguishes this show from others director Nicole Gerenyi has produced at Conestoga. This aspect of the musical also makes the production more challenging for
many of the student actors and actresses involved. “It’s hard to find historical accuracy in something that happened 100 years ago,” Gerenyi said. “Even the news headlines [historians] find contradict each other.” Nevertheless, Gerenyi is working with the cast and crew to realistically recreate the tragedy. “It’s a real historical event, so all of these people existed,” Gerenyi said. “It’s cool to build a character off of a photo that you can find online.” The makeup crew works with photographs of the real passengers to transform the actors into those characters. Senior Geoffrey Hegg must spend hours in the makeup chair to better portray his 67-yearold character, Isidor Straus. “We’re going to try [to] make me look like [Straus],” Hegg said. “I’ll probably be given a fake beard and fake glasses.” In addition to their appearances, the actors also attempt to imitate their characters’ various accents. From German to old English, many cast members have to learn an entirely new way of speaking. “It was 1912, so even if [my character] had an American accent, it would be different from the one we speak with today,” Berkowitz said. In order to help the show stay true to the facts, freshman Andrew McKeough has volunteered to be the show’s historian. McKeough, who has studied the history of the Titanic since first grade, helps Gerenyi and the cast convey historical information about the Titanic. Considering all “the information that we have, it’s going to be as historically accurate as we can [make it],” McKeough said. “It’s going to be one of the best interpretations.”
Although straying from historical accuracy is sometimes necessary to adapt the story into a musical, Gerenyi hopes to adapt the show to ’Stoga without bypassing the true story. Overall, we want to “pay [our] respects to the people that were on that ship,” Gerenyi said. Aly Mingione can be reached at amingione@stoganews.com.
Karolis Panavas/The SPOKE
Freshman Andrew McKeough contributes to producing “Titanic: The Musical” by serving as the crew’s historian. He has been studying the history of the Titanic since first grade.
Kelly Benning Staff Reporter Students usually do not celebrate their fourth birthdays during their sophomore year of high school, but Grace Gosnear is not a typical sophomore. Gosnear is one member of a very small, exclusive club of “Leap Day Babies,” people who were born on Feb. 29. A Leap Day occurs only once every four years, so people born on leap day are few and far between. In fact, Gosnear is the only student at Conestoga with a Leap Day birthday. Gosnear usually has to celebrate her birthday on Feb. 28. This year, she said that she is excited to celebrate on her actual birthday. “It’s like a regular birthday like everyone celebrates, but I’m turning four instead of 16,” Gosnear said. Having a leap day birthday has some drawbacks. Most organizations that require online registration, such as Facebook, do not recognize Feb. 29 as a valid birthday. Gosnear said that her date of birth is rejected from websites “all the time.” English teacher Tricia Ebarvia is a fellow “Leap Day Baby,” and all of her students are excited to join in on the celebration. “The kids are all bringing something in,” Ebarvia said. “They asked for a party so I said we could have [one] on my birthday.” Ebarvia is willing to treat her birthday with extra enthusiasm because Feb. 29 is so special to her. She has never been satisfied with substituting any other day for her actual birthday. “When I was little I used to celebrate on the first [of March] because that’s when Feb. 29 would be, but I don’t like March,” Ebarvia said. “I’ve always been conflicted about when I should celebrate it.” The minor annoyances that come with such an uncommon birthday do not detract from Gosnear’s excitement and anticipation that accompany a quadrennial celebration. She plans to spend her extra-special Sweet Four going to New York City with her friends. Kelly Benning can be reached at kbenning@stoganews.com.