High School Students Get a Peek Behind the College Curtain
Image by Ed Brennen
Theatre arts alumna Melissa Allen '15, center, leads her Haverhill High School students through a warmup exercise on the Comley-Lane Theatre stage during rehearsal for their staged reading of "All in the Timing," a collaboration with UML students.
02/28/2024
By Ed Brennen
Is Unamunda very hard to learn?
Eedgy. Egsovereedgy. Da bop.
Da bop?
Senior psychology major Rebecca Phillips, aka Dawn di Vito, and junior digital media major Colin O鈥橬eil, aka Don Finninneganegan, are rehearsing their lines in the comedic play 鈥淭he Universal Language鈥 on stage at the Comley-Lane Theatre on South Campus.
It鈥檚 the final run-through before the next night鈥檚 performance of 鈥淎ll in the Timing,鈥 a collection of one-act plays by David Ives, and nailing down the silly, make-believe language at the center of the story is a challenge. Fortunately, the performance is a staged reading, so Phillips and O鈥橬eil don鈥檛 have to memorize lines.
From the back of the darkened 500-seat theatre, their director, UML alumna Melissa Allen 鈥15, stops them periodically to give notes. Bigger gestures. Quicker pace. Phillips and O鈥橬eil, who are both minoring in theatre arts, nod and scribble notations in their scripts. Meanwhile, a half dozen high school students from Haverhill, Massachusetts, look on from the first row of seats, waiting to rehearse their acts.聽
Image by Ed Brennen
Senior Rebecca Phillips, left, and junior Colin O'Neil, right, rehearse "The Universal Language" with director Melissa Allen '15, center, at the Comley-Lane Theatre.
The production is a collaboration between Haverhill High and 51视频 鈥 one started three years ago by Allen, a drama teacher at the high school, and Shelley Barish, one of her former theatre arts professors at UML.
鈥淲e were brainstorming ways to bring performances back on stage during COVID 鈥 there wasn鈥檛 a lot happening in-person 鈥 and we thought it would be cool to bring some of my students to experience what it鈥檚 like here on the UML campus,鈥 says Allen, a Billerica, Massachusetts, native who earned a B.A. in English with a theatre arts concentration.聽
So, in 2022, Allen and Barish formed an ensemble cast and produced a staged reading of 鈥淎lone, Together,鈥 a collection of short plays about the pandemic. They followed that up last year with 鈥淎 Night of One Acts: A Staged Reading.鈥
Image by Ed Brennen
Sheeba Nabiryo, a first-year psychology major from Haverhill, rehearses her role in "Sure Thing."
鈥淢rs. Allen created a welcoming space in a college setting that bridged the gap between high school and college. When I got here, I was like, 鈥榊eah, I know my way around this place,鈥欌 says Schoenfeld, a first-year environmental science major in the Kennedy College of Sciences.
First-year psychology major Sheeba Nabiryo followed the same path, enrolling at UML after participating in the collaboration in high school.
鈥淚t鈥檚 strange having both perspectives,鈥 says Nabiryo, who played Betty in 鈥淪ure Thing鈥 this year. 鈥淲hen I was in high school, I thought the college kids were so much older and the campus was so big. Now I鈥檓 here, and I get to see some of my friends from high school.鈥
One of those friends is Sarah Tucker, a senior at Haverhill High who played a monkey named Kafka in 鈥淲ords, Words, Words.鈥
Image by Ed Brennen
First-year environmental science major Celia Schoenfeld, second from left, has stage-managed all three productions of the Haverhill High-UML collaboration.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so much fun to take a break from high school theater and come here to see how this works,鈥 says Tucker, who is still deciding where she will study environmental sustainability in college.
This was the first time on the college stage for O鈥橬eil, who did some acting in high school in Hudson, New Hampshire.
鈥淚t has been a great experience. Melissa is an awesome director, and the Haverhill students are extremely talented. It鈥檚 been fun getting to know them and going to work with them,鈥 he says.
Phillips has acted in several performances at UML, including the lead role in 鈥淒racula.鈥 She wishes she鈥檇 had something like the collaborative available to her as a high schooler in Malden, Massachusetts.
Image by Ed Brennen
Theatre Arts Prof. Shelley Barish, left, gestures toward Melissa Allen '15 while rehearsing their introduction for "All in the Timing."
鈥淚t鈥檚 great that Haverhill is having kids come over and get a first glance of a university theater,鈥 says Phillips, who is 鈥済rateful鈥 for the way the theater community embraced her at UML.
While the collaborative鈥檚 first two performances were held in the auditorium at O鈥橪eary Library, 鈥淎ll in the Timing鈥 was on the Comley-Lane stage 鈥 making it the theatre arts program鈥檚 first production in the venue since the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to be back,鈥 says Barish, who is preparing for the return of full productions on the stage, starting with 鈥淢elancholy Play鈥 in April.
Barish hopes the collaborations with Allen and her students continue.
鈥淎nybody can be involved with the program, which is the brilliance of it. Staged readings are a great way for students to test the waters and have some fun without the stress of memorizing lines,鈥 she says.
Image by Ed Brennen
This year's ensemble cast included four 51视频 students and six Haverhill High School students.
Allen, who has taught at Haverhill High since 2017, feels 鈥渁 bit of nostalgia鈥 bringing her students to campus.
鈥淭he arts program at UML gave me every opportunity to round out my education,鈥 says Allen, who spent summers at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York and Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
She also met her husband, music studies alum David Allen 鈥15, in one of Barish鈥檚 classes. They have a 1-year-old son, Luca.
鈥淚 really made the most of my time here,鈥 Allen says before returning her attention to the rehearsal stage.