| Bowling Green Senior High School students, from left, Cara Brosius, Ellie Meyer, Christina Gavarone and Brad Bozzo rehearse “Anatomy of Gray.” (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune) |
The Bowling Green High School’s Drama Club has been welcomed to the
world stage.The local troupe will participate in the International Thespian Festival at the University of
Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. at the end of June.Their production of "Anatomy of Gray" will be one of
14 plays selected for a main stage show."The prospect is both terrifying and exciting," said
Veronica Gonzalez, one of the cast of 18.She, along with cast mate Grace Easterly, have already been to the
international festival.And they know that the actors in the main stage shows are the stars of the
event.Typically the performers in those shows exude dedication to their craft, Easterly said. "They put
out 150 percent."Typically main stage shows play before audiences of more than 800, Veronica Gonzalez
said."Anatomy of Gray" selected by an independent panel of screeners for participation, said
JoBeth Gonzalez, the high school drama director.Making it to the international festival is a costly
endeavor. The application fee alone was $1,100, the director said. The school thespians have been working
hard to finance the trip. They paid for the initial cost by doing housekeeping services for a day at Cedar
Point. Once accepted to the festival the troupe set a goal of raising $12,000.That "offsets a good part
of the fees to the students," JoBeth Gonzalez, who is Veronica’s mother, said. The club also had some
savings that are being applied to the trip."When we received the invitation we weren’t sure we deserved
it," Justin Brown said. But any reservations had to be set aside because they knew they’d have to work
hard to take their performance to a higher level."Anatomy of Gray" was selected in part, JoBeth
Gonzalez said, "because this play was really going to up the bar for us on acting skills."The play
could be staged with just a couple pieces of furniture, she said, so all the attention is on the actors.
"You need really good actors. We knew our students were ready to do that and wanted to do
that."The cast is relatively small. A fall production, she said, usually has about 40 students.
"Anatomy of Gray" has 18, nine speaking roles and nine townspeople. That meant every speaking role
had an understudy. The understudies in fall had a chance to perform the show. It also meant that, the
director always had a full cast of lead characters on hand for rehearsals.Cast member Jeremiah Wruckey said
the small cast was a benefit. "It was more focused than the usual high school production."Baxter
Chambers said the more intense rehearsals helped them "focus in on developing our relationships with
the other characters."The story finds the town of Gray in 1880s Indiana in the grip of a mysterious
ailment. A Jewish doctor also named Gray and played by Chambers, shows up as the savior."People panic
when they don’t know what’s causing a disease," JoBeth Gonzalez said. The cast had to study the history
of the time at the same time they delved into themes with contemporary resonance.Samantha Hudson says at one
point her character get into a discussion of abortion."There’s a spiritual thread throughout this
play," JoBeth Gonzalez said. "We have to talk about forgiveness, strength and where blame should
lie."Still, "it combines serious themes with comedy," Hudson noted."There is a lot of
dry, sarcastic humor," Chambers said.That didn’t come out, the director said, until the show was
performed in front of a live audience, and people laughed."We spent so much time digging into the
serious topics we forgot how funny it was," she said.The play also incorporates music, mostly in the
form of congregational singing.Looking forward to the trip to Nebraska, Chamber said: "I’m excited to
show what we’ve put together and meet people like us from around the country."For Wruckey the trip
offers "a chance to spend a week straight with friends before we go off to college."
