Troupe 2450 Delivers a Sweet Performance in “Drama and Deserts”

Sara Gelrud, Editor-in-Chief • 112 Views

January 16, 2024

From left to right: Alan Basterra, Sebastian Ulloa, Ethan Artzt, and Sam Levinger perform “Controlling Interests” by Wayne Rawley. The show was a chance for Troupe 2450 to perform their competition pieces stress-free. “Most of the prep was just like, reviewing what we had done, applying some of the notes that the judges had given to us,” said junior Samuel Levinger.

Troupe 2450 performed their tenth annual competition showcase, “Drama and Deserts”, for family and friends last Friday in the Second Story Theater.

The showcase was composed of 11 quick, five-minute scenes that “range from musical theater to technical theater to straight acting” according to Upper School Performing Arts Faculty & Drama Director Jessica Fox.

“Drama and Deserts” is different from most productions mainly because of its stress-free nature according to junior Samuel Levinger, who delivered a notable performance of “Fine”, a musical theater duet from “The Ordinary Days” by Adam Gwon which he performed alongside junior Estefa Velez.

“Drama and Desserts gives us an opportunity to not only show our parents and our family and friends what we’ve been working on the past few months, but also it gives us the opportunity to do it in a more of a relaxed setting,” Levinger said after finishing his third year performing in the show.

From left to right: juniors Samantha Vides, Ayden Gomez, and Claire O’Neil perform “Family Friendly”. This act was a pantomime, completely created by the cast themselves, only including pre-recorded sounds. The act was about two people flipping through TV channels, trying to find the right program to watch and coming across a few questionable shows.

Similarly, Fox pointed out that “the biggest difference is just that there’s no pressure, no stress. It’s just performing for the joy of performing.”

Students like senior Valeria Bigott, freshman Luiza Padoveze, and junior Sophia Lambert displayed their versatility and ability to quickly shift characters through their contrasting monologues – two monologues acted one after the other, from different time periods and in different styles. The show also included a student-created pantomime titled “Family Friendly” by a select cast from the Troupe which displayed the actors’ ability to form a scene with only the use of sound.

While the seats were mainly filled by parents and family members, many Troupe 2450 alumni were back from college and came to watch their friends and old cast members perform again.

“I was so happy watching all the performances. It made me really feel good about our department… it made me smile just watching,” class of ‘23 alumnus Hernan Rodriguez said, adding that he has a lot of hope for the future of the department, especially after viewing the Troupe’s performance.

For Rodriguez, a standout performance was sophomore Gabriela Celic’s performance of “My Party Dress” by Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk.

“It’s really hard to do a solo, especially because it’s just you on stage so entirely the performance is on your back and being able to have that much presence and being able to deliver on that scale is really impressive,” he commented.