"Anything Goes" for Stonehill theatre club

Published April 24, 2008, The Enterprise of Brockton, Mass.
http://www.enterprisenews.com/

By Kristen O’Neil
SPECIAL TO THE ENTERPRISE

EASTON — The belly laughs can be heard as soon as you step foot in the building.
One person does a jig in the middle of a group, sending the people into hysterics. Actors, with scripts open, pace the floor memorizing lines.
The quiet chatter turns into a dull roar, as people watch the rehearsal.
“Guys, please be quiet and listen or we’re going to be here all night,” the director, Kathleen Comber, says patiently to her cast.
More than two dozen students in the Stonehill Musical Theatre Club have been rehearsing Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” a musical about a group of comedic characters’ journey on a ship traveling from New York to England.
The performances are set for tonight and Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. in Stonehill College’s Hemingway Theatre.
“We’ve been doing a lot of popular shows like ‘The Wiz’ and ‘Grease,’” said Ryan Dejak, the group’s president and one of the leads in the show. “This year we wanted to do a show that appealed to a broader audience."
The club originated from Stonehill College’s Greasepaint Players and has produced various shows including “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Into the Woods,” and most recently, “Songs for a New World.”
“This play is more difficult than any we’ve done before because Cole Porter is a classical artist,” Comber said. “It’s a staple Broadway show, outdated in the way it is written, with difficult harmonies and a great deal of dancing.”
This is the first performance since the spring of 2006 that the club has been able to use the college’s Hemingway Theatre as its stage.
Unlike the Stonehill Theatre Company, SMTC does not have its own theater space to rehearse, forcing the troupe to practice scenes in a classroom.
“It is very challenging working with unconventional spaces,” Dejak said. “Because of the lack of available spaces on campus, we are forced to share minimal time slots with other groups.”
In addition to Comber, the club hired musical director Steve Shannon, whom it found through a local theater company.
"Steve has helped with many of our previous shows, and he’s great,” said Sarah Deloury, a senior, and lead in this semester’s show. “He’s so talented, and just knows how to interact with students in a fun way while still getting work done.”
Comber also relies on her two stage managers, senior Aleka Dimos and sophomore Dana Treglia, for assistance.
“They’re both so helpful and vital to everything we need to get done for this show,” Comber said. “They’re just awesome."
“Laura Shea, our senior choreographer, makes the excessive dancing accessible to even the simplest of dancers,” she said. “She’s fun, fresh, exciting, a huge pleasure to work with, and infinitely patient with everyone, including myself.”
There are about 50 to 60 people involved in “Anything Goes,” including about 15 crew and club members, a 10-person pit orchestra and 23 cast members.
“It’s one of the biggest shows we have ever done in regards to cast size,” Dejak said. “It also has the most challenging dancing, and it’s the first show that we’ve decided to fully take on the costumes and set in a specific period, the 1930s.”
Comber admitted it can be a bit daunting.
“This is my first time directing and it can be scary to see 25 people all staring at you looking for direction,” Comber, a long-time performer, said. “The exciting part is that I’m able to see individual talent and this is such a wonderful cast, that they’ve made it much easier on me.”
This year’s cast is filled with veterans and newcomers. Francesca Perrone, the vice president of the group, has been in one other show and previously directed the Movie Musicals Cabaret while Marissa Ranalli, a freshman, is making her debut this semester.“
"I was too scared to audition for ‘Songs for a New World.’ I was in ‘Anything Goes’ in high school so it made me less nervous,” Ranalli said.