Since April, a group of La Mesa High School students have spent five nights a week living in the 1950s as they prepare to bring the musical “Bye Bye Birdie” to the Joan B. Kroc Theatre next week.
“I'm spending this weekend with a hair stylist learning about 1950s hairstyles,” said Karisa Archer, the leading lady. “The clothes are great, there are poodle skirts and saddle shoes, and beautiful little suits that are so elegant.”
With “Bye Bye Birdie,” the C. Hook Theater launches its second year as a high school drama group that grew out of the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District's Peter Pan Junior Theater.
Elementary and middle school students put together a musical each year as part of the Peter Pan Junior Theater. But the free, volunteer theater program ended there until last year.
“Bye Bye Birdie” presented
by the C. Hook Theater
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday through June 21. Also 1 p.m. June 21.
Where: Joan B. Kroc Theatre, 6845 University Ave., San Diego.
Admission: $10-$12.
Tickets: Tickets can be purchased at chooktheater.com, by calling (619) 464-6142 or at the box office before the performance.
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“Many of the kids, once they finish eighth grade and left our program, asked us to set up a high school program,” said Mark Arapostathis, a second-grade teacher who heads both theater groups. “I get tremendous satisfaction from seeing them really find a passion for theater and how the kids develop leadership and character.”
Arapostathis is a graduate of the Peter Pan group, founded in the 1970s for fourth-through eighth-graders. His first show was “The Gypsy Princess” in 1976, and he had a memorable run in “Tom Sawyer.”
Arapostathis, who is a city councilman in La Mesa, said theater is a great learning experience for young people, who are required to keep their grades up to participate.
“They work side by side,” Arapostathis said. “And they get the idea that having talent does not excuse bad behavior, that they are accountable to their peers.”
And musicals such as “Bye Bye Birdie” also serve as a history lesson.
“We created a study guide so the kids learn the historical significance of the story,” Arapostathis said. “There's a lot of cultural literacy: Ed Sullivan and LPs, phone booths and the Korean War, that they have to understand to get the play.”
Putting on a show, especially a classic musical such as this 1958 satire of star-struck American society, is a lot of work. The cast of 35 and crew of 20 began rehearsing, designing and building sets and searching for costumes in April. Conrad Birdie is an Elvis Presley-like star about to enter the Army. His manager drums up a publicity stunt, a contest won by a girl whose beau has just declared his love. A romantic comedy ensues.
Actors perform a dozen songs in the musical's two acts. Archer, who plays the manager's long-suffering girlfriend Rose Alvarez, likes the opening number best.
“Rose sings it about Albert, that she wishes he'd settle down and become an English teacher,” said Archer, who is one of two college-age performers invited to be in the production because of their many years with the theater companies.
Archer, a biochemistry major at Point Loma Nazarene College, has been involved with Peter Pan Theater since she was in fourth grade. She has acted, worked on the stage crew and been an assistant director with Peter Pan. She has acted in the C. Hook Theater.
“Some of the kids I worked with as an assistant director when they were in fourth and fifth grade are in this play, and I'm impressed with how they've taken a love for acting and gone so far and done so well with it,” Archer said. “It teaches you discipline and teamwork that will matter for your whole life.”
For rehearsals at the La Mesa High School gymnasium, the cast has taped off the floor to the size of the Joan B. Kroc Theatre stage to make sure they are at home moving around the big stage when the show opens.
“We're really excited to play such a great venue – there isn't a bad seat in the house,” Archer said. “Now we're working on making sure our movements are purposeful and our talking and singing are clear and loud enough.”
Marty Graham is a freelance writer in San Diego.
