By Caitlyn Lentner
Fifteen Branford High School students graced the stage recently for three pleasing performances of William Inge’s classic play Picnic in the school’s annual fall play.
Picnic wooed the hearts of Broadway-goers for a short but memorable year in 1953 after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play captures a particular Labor Day weekend, focused primarily on the properties of two neighbors: Flo Owens, played in the BHS production by sophomore Penelope Benson, and Helen Potts, played by freshman Nadya Jones.
The BHS Dramat staged this year’s production of Picnic, which explores the ins and outs of coming-of-age troubles and features a glimpse into the life of heartland teenagers set in rural Kansas. The play suggests that their feuds and struggles relate to those of modern youth.
The character of Madge Owens, played by junior Lillian Rank, symbolized the unfortunate product of artificial or forced matches instead of organic emotions in relationships.
Upon the arrival of a rough but alluring boy, Hal, played by senior Alex Lenox, Madge experiences doubt and insecurity in her relationship with another boy, Alan, played by the senior Jacob Shumway. Alan embodies the anticipated romance of her time: the perfectly poised, programmed, and prosperous boy who will elevate the social status of Madge. Through this scandalous encounter with Hal, important reflection upon moral values surface, as does the dilemma to follow the needs of the heart over Madge’s familial expectation of marrying into wealth.
The character of the unhappily-single schoolteacher Rosemary, played by senior Morgan Hackley, models a similar phenomenon; this time, this situation of romantic disarray occurs through adults instead of kids. A lively and entertaining theatrical ensemble consisting of Bella Gohar, Italia Bruno, Ginger Fitzpatrick, DJ Hooks, Matthew Lenox, Connor Gilfeather and Jenna Medina, rounded out the cast.
While this struggle of coordinated marriage and love predominantly takes center stage, an underlying theme of inadequacy looms in the threads of the production, primarily trailing Millie Owens, the daughter of Flo Owens and the precocious sister of Madge. The talented senior Shay Barrett portrays the character of Millie exceptionally in her final Branford High School Fall Drama showcase.
Despite all the drama, the children in the show seem to bear the most emotional, and social burdens in the pursuit of determining self-worth and adequacy. While the production appears to only demonstrate juvenile issues, the truth proves that the adults experience the same amount of anguish that their children, or younger friends endure.
The actors in the play effectively communicated emotions of compassion and empathy for the sake of developing the audience’s understanding of unequal opportunities, societal norms and personal ambitions, and yearning for lifelong satisfaction and security. Though the characters unravelled their story on a permanent set consisting of two neighbors’ homes, the players utilized body language, thoughtful dialogue, and various costume changes to further unfold the plot.
Shay Barrett’s Millie especially shined through with lively body language to express her dissatisfaction with her sister’s vanity-related privilege, through pouting and obvious resentment towards Madge’s steady flow of attention. Lillian Rank, who shared the spotlight with Barrett as Madge, flaunted her body language skills in order to convey her ambivalence: tearing her between love interests, and honoring her family through marrying into wealth. Alex Lenox, portraying the character of Hal, transformed the stage into his playground by a series of fluid movements across the set, vividly expressing Hal’s free-spirited nature as he navigates his journey towards reconciliation of self-identity.
It is a familiar theme and one that also appears in the well-known novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding which centers on a group of British school boys stranded on a remote island. The barbaric activities of the young boys serves as a prevailing reminder that the teenage metamorphosis evolves into a mature adversity, instead of completely subsiding with age.
Likewise, the struggle of Madge and Millie associate with the struggle of their mother, Flo, who adapted to single motherhood, Rosemary who struggles with her lackluster relationship with Howard, played by senior Jake Coveyduck, and Helen Potts who sacrifices to service her controlling mother out of respect and companionship.
Through viewing this year’s production, a tenacious question arises: why do materialism and tangibility drive the creation of forced arrangements and the relinquishment of dignity? Why would Madge need to abandon her sister, mother, and childhood home for Tulsa, in order to preserve her own autonomy? Why would Helen Potts need to constrain to the conventional expectation of daughters, despite her mother’s overbearing authority?
In a perfect world, everyone will attend the labor day picnic, bring their pink cherry frosted cake, and eat it too.
