By Faith Gonia
“Typecast: assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous success in such roles.”
At Campbell Union High School District’s eighteenth annual Theatrefest, directors did the exact opposite of typecasting. In the collaboration of all five theatre departments, each student deliberately took on a nonconventional role—gender swapping a traditionally gendered scene, or blending two musicals together in one song. Miscast, the production’s clever title, exhibited the “most theatrical students” from each sister school, with phenomenal performances from Westmont, Del Mar, Prospect, Branham, and Leigh.
Seniors Ethan Li, Kaleb Ma, and Jimmy Nguyen performed the famous A Chorus Line song, “At the Ballet,” traditionally sung by three women. From the moment the three actors took to the stage, their beautiful voices captured the audience. Truly, their piece, as well as many others, demonstrated the potential beauty of “miscasting” a show.
Li explains the process behind working with the other high schools. Composed of two “all-school numbers,” and twenty-four pieces each from the different departments, Miscast required three district-wide after school rehearsals, in addition to one for an entire school day. Meanwhile, students had worked on the individual pieces since last September as a part of their theatre classes.
“I enjoyed seeing other school’s pieces, especially with the theme this year,” Li explains, because they were all really creative and took the idea of “miscast” in different directions.”
In addition to his musical performance, Li also directed “Visitors from Chicago” from A California Suite. Changing the sexual orientations of the characters, Li created queer couples from the formerly straight ones. With actors Isaac Martinez, Logan Mendelsen, Shelly Yoffe, and Rachel Hougensen, the comedic scene had the entire audience laughing.
And of course, no Westmont production is complete without seniors Mika Shahar and Nisa Naderi. In their rendition of “The Trial” from A Few Good Men, Director Sarah Ruebenson worked with the actors to deliver a powerful, hair-raising scene. Fans of the play-turned-movie know and love the classic courtroom line from Jack Nicholson; when Shahar stood from her seat and yelled, “You can’t handle the truth,” I got chills.
Furthermore, Zachary Kessler and Elle Seguin performed a hilarious piece, “The Honeymoon is Over,” from I Do! I Do!. Both of these actors have a remarkable presence onstage, and I immensely enjoyed watching them in the number.
All in all, each school brought countless uniquely entertaining pieces, and every student involved did a remarkable job. Undoubtedly, CUHSD’s Miscast Theatrefest was a work of genius.