Tennent Prepares Shakespearean Production for New Auditorium

It's Monday night at , and fall play director Jennifer Hoban has gathered a few of her actors to give them some finer points on the proper way to "jostle" each other. It's the kind of harmless pushing around that teenaged boys seem to have a knack for, but for some reason, they can't duplicate it on stage while in character.

"I see you guys walking down the halls everyday, joking around and shoving each other," says Hoban. "Yet, when you're up on stage, you keep moving away from each other."

This is the part of the final tweaking and polishing that Hoban and her troupe of 21 actors and actresses are pushing to complete before the curtain rises Thursday evening for the fall production of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Hoban has been leading the fall play for five years, and she is fairly certain it's been a long time since the school has staged a Shakespeare play.

"I feel like we've been building up to a Shakespeare for the past few years," she said. "This one is the student-friendliest of his work. The prose is easier and doesn't follow the regular rhythms of his other plays."

Hoban also felt the subject matter of the piece would resonate with the actors and the audience. In the play, two couples are manipulated through gossip and lies in attempt by the play's villain to damage their relationships. In Hoban's mind, it's the perfect show for the high school set.

As four of the male leads run through a couple scenes they have been struggling with, Hoban is eager to make sure they have their lines well-memorized in order to work on fine-tuning the characterizations. In addition to the challenge of reciting the complicated language of William Shakespeare and inhabiting the characters, the young performers also have to practice projecting their voices as far as they can.

"We are still waiting for a new sound system," said Hoban. "We've been going through some vocal exercises to help out, but I am a little worried about reaching every seat."

The finance committee the purchase of a $513,000 sound system, which still needs final approval from the full Centennial School Board. Hoban is hopeful the microphones and speakers are completed in time for the spring musical, but has to work with the 2,000 seat space as it is. It may be a challenge, for sure, but it's a far cry from the same time last year, when the school construction left the fall play and spring musical homeless.

"In the fall, we had to rehearse and perform at the middle schools," said Nick Messina, who plays Don Pedro. "It was hard because there would be other groups coming in the next day, so we had to take down all the sets and put them away after each rehearsal. It's so much easier having your own space."

Messina, a junior at Tennent, got bit by the performing while in the sixth grade at Klinger Middle School. As one of his teachers started talking about auditions that have opened up for the school's staging of High School Musical, Messina started poking fun at the show. As punishment, he was forced to try out for the production, and to his surprise he earned a speaking role, with a solo performance.

Since then, he has stuck with the stage life, becoming a fixture in school shows such as Footloose and Chicago. Even though he and many of the actors are familiar faces on the Tennent stage, each one has to go through the Hoban's audition process in order to get considered for a role.

Unlike the spring musical, where anybody who wants to participate will get a spot either as a lead or in the chorus, Hoban needs to make cuts for the fall show. For Much Ado About Nothing, 35 hopefuls tried out for 21 spots.

"It's my least favorite part of the job, no question," said Hoban. "I agonize over making that decision. There's always hurt feelings when someone is picked over you."

The audition process can also yield pleasant surprises. The original Much Ado About Nothing features a male-heavy cast. In order to balance out the gender make-up, Hoban switch several of the roles to female. She wasn't planning to include the piece's villain, Don John, in the switch, until she saw Melissa Ballow.

"She had an amazing audition," said Hoban. "I through my original concept out the window and started over with that character."

Much Ado About Nothing runs Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. at the William Tennent auditorium.