What play will the Patriot Players be performing this year?

We are doing Bring It On; it is kind of an adaptation of the films from what I understand, but I haven’t seen them all. It’s about a head cheerleader named Campbell who is planning to take her team to the national championships, but she gets transferred in the middle of her senior year. Her new high school is sort of poor, urban and diverse, and it doesn’t have a cheer squad at all. She tries to create a team and winds up competing against her old school. There is a lot of conflict and entertainment.

What made you choose this play over other ones, like classic musicals?

This musical was brought to our attention last year when the girl who plays the lead role, Campbell (Maggie Barilka), did a song from the show for Cabaret Night, and of course it was absolutely fantastic. I’ve never seen the play, Mr. Giblin’s never seen the play, Ms. Conners [has] never seen the play, so Mr. Giblin listened to the Broadway cast recording and really, really loved it. We read the script and thought it was hysterical. A lot of the music is written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has done Hamilton and The Heights, so it very hip hop and very fun. It’s like nothing we’ve ever done before and there’s a lot of really great roles for girls in it, and we have so many strong girls in it this year that we thought it would be a really great fit.

Who are the leads of the play? 

The leads of the play are Maggie Barilka, who is a senior, and she is playing Campbell. Then the other high school she goes to the main character’s name is Danielle and the role is actually split between senior Leah Waldron and junior Nina Mojeres. Then Brooke Salamone plays the part of Eva, but I don’t want to give too much away about her character. Anna Juliano and Nicole Amatucci have featured parts, as does Yara Davila and Sydney Wisdom. On the boy’s side, we have Seth Kaliroff; he plays a character named Randall who is kind of a DJ. We also have Erik Stumpf who is this rapper guy and hip hop dancer in the play. Danny Scerbo, who has a featured role, plays the head of the cheer squad.

How did you make your selection for the leads?

Really for this show, it is such a dance heavy show, so we needed people, especially for the girls, who could sing, dance, and act; that was crucial. It just so happened that Maggie is an absolutely brilliant technical dancer, Nina is a skilled ballroom dancer, and Leah has done color guard and drill team and all that. We have some actual cheerleaders, about five of them, in the play this year; they are kind of our technical advisors, and they do the hard stuff and show us what we’re doing during our dance routines.

What was the tryout process like?

It’s pretty much the same, but this year it was little different because a lot of the kids that tried out weren’t the typical drama kids. It was a three-day process for people who were interested in leads. Everyone had to sing, so they just picked a solo song and sang it in front of me, Mr. Giblin, and Ms. Conners. There was a dance routine that I taught the kids, and everyone had to do that one day. For students [who] were interested in a lead role, they had to come for an acting audition, as well. We casted and gave parts of the script so they could run the script with each other.

When will the play be performed?

It will be performed March 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th. All of those days will have a 7 pm performance, and then on Saturday, March 19^th, we also have a 1 pm. The 1:00 show is generally our understudy performance, so some of the younger guys will get their chance at that show.

Over the past years, the spring musical has been extremely successful; what do you attribute this to?

It’s a lot of hard work. Ultimately, the play is only as good as the effort that people put into it. This year in particular, I have our leads and my few assistants helping out. My main two assistants are seniors, Erik Stumpf and Jamie Pastorini; they are really devoted and are setting the example for the younger guys of what is required of them in terms of effort and attitude that need to be put into the play. They make sure the kids know their lines, songs, and choreography. The atmosphere Erik and Jamie [create] sucks everyone else in and makes everyone do the best job they can.

Is there anything you want to tell students who are interested in attending the play? Anything to expect?

It’s really, really funny. I think, especially for some students who told me they haven’t actually ever seen a musical before, it’s extremely different than anything we’ve ever done here before, certainly something different than anything I have done here. The music is absolutely phenomenal. You can listen to the songs like you would listen to music on your iPod because it doesn’t play like the musical theatre show tunes, it plays like songs you’d want to dance to and sing along with. We have really scary cheerleading stunts, tumbling, and a little bit of everything. I think everyone should come see the show and have a really good time.