Having children involved in the show from Bath Elementary School and Revere Middle School, Disney coloring books make their way to rehearsal. Growing closer together with the Revere Players in high school and forming new bonds and relationships day-by-day, the younger actors even created a handshake called the “Bailey family handshake” while sharing their first acting experiences together.

This year Revere Players performed It’s a Wonderful Life, adapted from the screenplay directed by Frank Capra from the story written by Phillip Van Doren Stern. The drama chosen for the holidays took place November 21st through November 23rd with a senior citizen showing on November 20th. With the combination of the directors Laurie Russell and Rena Baker, Robert Pierson working on set design, the production manager Sharon Caldwell and the cast of over fifty people, many members contributed to the play.

Seniors Justin Evangelist, Ben Mullaly, Julie Mullet, Abbey Niemi, Clarice Sigsworth and David Speer played the leads in the production.

Beyond acting roles, stage managers senior Dan Butera and junior Will Ackermann were responsible for all activities backstage and Caldwell assisted the directors. Additionally, Pierson, the artistic director, supervised all the painting, construction and prop building for the set. Additionally, 20 students worked on the set. 10-12 of those students also work on the backstage crew during performances.

Niemi, portraying Mary Bailey, commented on the work the cast must put into memorizing lines.

“Memorizing lines isn’t as hard as it seems. When you practice scenes as many times as we do, the lines just seem to flow with [what is] going on. When you understand your character and their motives or how they would act in certain situations, [it is] easy to remember lines,” Niemi said.

Baker, working closely with Niemi, commented on Niemi’s role in the production.

“This is [Niemi’s] first time in the female lead role, and she is magical,” Baker said.

Speer, portraying George Bailey, joked about the level of activity within the players’ community.

“Players is an interesting mix between a regular club and a sport. [It is] definitely not a relaxed activity, but [there is] not quite so much actual exhaustion as something like football or underwater basket-weaving or baseball,” Speer said.
Baker commented on the members of the cast.

“Speer has almost three times as many lines as any other cast member.  He is a true leader on stage, but this play would not be a success without the wonderful performances from all the other actors.  [Niemi, Mullaly, Evangelist, Sigsworth and Mullet] are talented performers, and we are fortunate to have them in this production. I am particularly proud of all of our supporting cast [townspeople and children] who can make or break a performance. They are fabulous!” Baker said.

Sigsworth portrayed Frankie, an angel and narrator for the production. She described Frankie as an older authority figure involved in fate and divine intervention. Sigsworth noted her struggles to perfect her role.

“[Memorizing] lines and [focusing] for this show [were challenging]. I have a lot of on-stage time without anything specific to do, so I have to stay in character silently for almost an hour when you add it up.  [It is] difficult,” Sigsworth said.

Speer noted the steps to perfecting their characters.

“You have to know who your character is, then convince yourself [that is] who you are onstage. [It is] sort of like self-imposed multiple personality disorder. And [we are] all about just as crazy,” Speer said.

Sympathizing with the actors’ struggles with the production, Russell noted the difficulties during rehearsal.

“It has been a very difficult story to rehearse because it takes place over three decades, the 1910 to 1940s, [and] there are 31 one different scenes so that means a lot of work for the stage construction creating backdrops, props and furniture,” Russell said.

Pierson expounded on his responsibility to design the scenery to fit the unique dynamic of the production. He utilizes painters and carpenters during tech week and set design.

The cast works closely with everyone this year. The play, involving both humor and pathos, fluidly completed one story from beginning to end rather than splitting into two stories between acts. The directors set rehearsal for every day after school until six o’clock starting in September and lasted for seven to eight weeks prior to the production. The rehearsals went until later into the evening as the show approached.

Caldwell noted that she communicated between the cast, crew and tech at these rehearsals, preparing everyone for the big day. Caldwell explained some of her duties.

“[I] get props from the prop room and set the ones out for the day, collect angel donations from our gracious community [and] give actors lines when they need them during practice, which is not very often,” Caldwell said.

Seniors acting in the play were Evangelist, Mullaly, Mullet, Niemi, Sigsworth, Speer, Casey Amato, Audrey DeLong, Leia Gertz, Griffen Hansen, Ted Hess, Isaiah Kessler, Katie Mehal and Oliver Zhang.

As the Players approached the production, excitement filled the theater. Reflecting on the hard work of meshing the dynamic and chemistry of the cast and crew, Revere Players will continue in the spring. Revere Players have announced this year’s spring musical will be The Wizard of Oz.