With a limited number of theatrical options that are both appropriate for high school productions and interesting to the student performers, drama directors such as Gioia Marchese at Santa Barbara High School are constantly on the lookout for new work. It’s about finding a show that is well-suited for the year’s student group, says Marchese. “I want something challenging and fun that really highlights what they’re good at.” Inspired by the great teen movies of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Marchese created an adaptation of John Hughes’s The Breakfast Club for the stage.
“I used the screenplay as the source material,” says Marchese, “but there are a lot of things in the film that don’t work for theater. At a play, we don’t want to see people sitting at a desk for two hours. They need to move around and make different stage pictures. We are trying to make those moments come alive theatrically while keeping the intention of the moment.”
Santa Barbara High presents ‘The Breakfast Club’ | Photo: Leela Cyd
An example, says student actor Chase Houston, is a dance performed to the song “Dancing with Myself.” This moment of “pressure release” after an intense scene wasn’t in the movie, says Houston, “but it adds a new layer of energy and emotion to the play.”
Houston plays both Andrew Clark and John Bender in SBHS’s rolling cast. In this style of casting, actors take turns playing the role throughout the run. In the case of SBHS’s production, every performance will feature a unique blend of cast members. Dragon Aditya also plays Bender for some performances. “I strongly relate to Bender’s ideals of individuality and doing what you want because you want to,” he says, “although I don’t plan on pulling any fire alarms any time soon.”
See Gen X (as filtered through Gen Alpha) at Santa Barbara High School November 7-9 and 13-16. Click here for tickets.
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