Quincey Reese, Editor in Chief

     Students of the Penn-Trafford Drama Guild have been working to bring a performance of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” to PTHS. With the help of student leaders, commitment from the cast and guidance of the directors and sponsors involved, the production is well on its way to being ready for opening night on Nov. 30.

    According to P-T Drama Guild sponsor Jen Haberberger, this play has presented the challenge of learning and performing a French dialect.

    Senior Raegan Hochman, who plays Esmeralda, also said that the dialect has been one of her greatest challenges in the play.

    “I can do a lot of accents, but doing a French accent with the English language is so hard. That is what I’m struggling with,” Hochman said.

    To master the accent, students received help from French teacher Cristy Rizzardi. She came to one of the rehearsals and went through the script with them, pausing to explain how certain words and phrases would be pronounced under this dialect.

    Student director Grace Bender, who has taken several French classes at P-T, has also helped students acquire the accent.

    “It’s hard to understand how the French accent will translate from the stage to the audience,” Bender said. “If we had the students go up and speak in a perfect French dialect, the average person wouldn’t really understand anything. They wouldn’t be able to see the full intensity of the show, so that’s been a challenge.”

    In addition to helping with the pronunciation of lines, Bender has played a significant role in staging and blocking, a process which shows each student where they are to stand and say their lines throughout the performance. She has also helped with the design and construction of the sets by assisting the paint crew and being in the Theatrical Set Design class.

    For each rehearsal, Bender said she arrives early and meets with the director, Haberberger and any of the other Drama Guild helpers to see where they are at in the process and what still needs to be done. She also assists with stretching and warm-up before working with the students on staging and blocking, giving notes on how they can improve along the way.

    Bender added that taking on this leadership role has shown her more of the technical side of performance, opening her eyes to the process from all angles and helping her learn how to give constructive criticism.

    “I’m very grateful for the opportunity. It’s been absolutely phenomenal,” she said. “I’ve learned an enormous amount on the production side and acting standpoint. Being in the production helps you understand the decisions made when you are in the acting field.”

    Junior Morgan Bruni, the student choreographer, has been working alongside Bender in the play. She said that her role in the production is to choreograph the opening number, teach it to the students, help lead the performers through stretching and assist the stage managers and director, Tom Bekavac, in any other ways she can.

    Hochman said that the opening number will be performed to the Queen song “Somebody to Love.” She added that they do not usually use well-known songs for this, but they chose to utilize this classic as it fit with the storyline of the show. According to Hochman, it was also a way of honoring the 40th anniversary of the band’s landmark album “News of the World.”

    Bruni said that despite the difficulties presented with choreographing and teaching the opening number to students, she appreciated having the role.

    “It’s hard. You have so many people on stage and everyone does a different part. There’s just a lot happening, and it is stressful, but I like having a leadership position,” she explained. “It’s a challenge for me, and it’s something new. I don’t dance and I’m not very good at it, so it was something different.”

    Haberberger commended both Bender and Bruni for their hard work and dedication to the performance and production process.

    “Grace and Morgan have done an awesome job in both rights. Grace has so much experience in theater that she is just a natural at giving directions, working with people and being patient and kind while doing it,” she said. “Morgan was apprehensive at first, but she has done a great job with the choreography and teaching the students.”

    Sophomore and lead of the play Gabriel List said he feels that the cast has responded well to the dynamic of working with Bender and Bruni as student leaders instead of fellow cast members.

    “You need to understand where they’re coming from and why they’re coming from that way. I think for a lot of us that was an easy thing to do. We know under normal circumstances they may act differently, but we recognize that this is how they have to be now in order to guide the show as best they can,” he said.

   In the show,  List portrays Quasimodo, otherwise known as the hunchback and bell-ringer for the Notre Dame Cathedral. In addition to learning the dance and acquiring the French accent, he said that he is mainly challenged with the task of properly portraying his character.

    He explained that Quasimodo is on stage for a majority of the performance, but that he is deaf and does not have many lines as a result. On top of this difficult dynamic, List added that his character remains in a hunched-over stature for the entirety of the play. He also wears a prosthetic on his face, meaning that his facial expressions need to be bold enough to show through.

    List said that Quasimodo is unique to other characters he has played in past productions.

    “[My previous] characters had basic changes and motivations throughout the show. This character has a lot. He goes through changes, starts to understand more things and becomes aware as time goes on. He’s just a very difficult character to try to get a grasp on,” he explained.

    Hochman also felt that her character has been a significant part of her focus throughout rehearsals because of the understanding that is required to personate her.

    “You have to dig deep into Esmeralda’s culture and see how they danced and how she portrays herself. Everything that goes into your character study helps you find out who she really is,” Hochman said.

    The Drama Guild’s performance of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” will be shown in the auditorium from Nov. 30 through Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 3:00 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets will be sold at the door for $6 a piece.