There’s a terrific event happening this weekend at Round House Theatre. On Friday night, I caught the first of three performances of the 22nd Annual Sarah Metzger Memorial Play, Spring Break, by the Teen Performance Company, There’s also a performance by The Roundlings comedy and improv ensemble, as part of Teen Takeover Weekend.
Since Round House doesn’t present a food and beverage tie-in to their café for these, as they do with professional productions, I had not attended a performance of the teen program before. I now realize that it was my loss!
There was more heart-felt emotion on the stage last night than I had experienced in a long time. The play itself presents a series of vignettes about the hopes, fears, aspirations, and existential crises of students at the cusp of adulthood, about to step off into the unknown. Any adult can sympathize with the concerns of these teens, remembering their own angst while noting the framing of quandaries in new ways. And yet some things never change: friends will part ways, money must be found for college, life-setting decisions must be made.
And there was plenty of humor. One boy’s idea of heaven is the cruise he’s looking forward to with his family. Why? He anticipates unlimited access to the frozen yogurt machine – with no line! (See how I worked in a food reference there?)
The play’s author, Joe Calarco, has been writing plays for young actors for many years. All the rest of the production (direction, costumes, lighting, sound, etc.), is handled by teens, with professional mentors guiding them. The program is free for the students; all they contribute is their devotion to the art of theater.
And how is this possible? By the endowment of the family of Sarah Metzger. A fitting memorial to a girl who produced a full-scale theatrical production while still in high school! She was killed in a car accident in her freshman year in college. Now, her name lives on, inspiring others with the same passion she lived for. Many of the alumni of this program have gone on to careers in theater; several were there last night.
At the end of the performance, Ryan Rilette, Round House Artistic Director, spoke about the excellence of these teens and their devotion to their craft. “In theater,” he said, as opposed to life, “there’s truthful, and there’s not-as-truthful.” Then he called Lynn Metzger, Sarah’s mother, on stage. She read a touching message about the family’s two-decade-long relationship with the theater. This critic’s heart was warmed.
