By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Listening to Alice Walters detail the plot of “Rogues’ Gallery” it’s impossible not to think about the art heist at the 1990 Gardner Museum in Boston except the artwork at the center of the play is a pile of boxes not priceless paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer.
Still, that assemblage of boxes is valued at $5 million, and the two security guards charged with protecting it have screwed up The artistically heaped pile has been wrecked and the boxes are now just a pile. As a way of diverting blame from themselves and to get to the bottom of the affair, the guards Hopper and O’Keefe, rewind the security tape to identify the culprits. As it turns out, there are many.
“The Rogues’ Gallery,” which was collectively written by nine authors, will be on stage at the Performing Arts Center, Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation.
This is the sophomore production of the middle school drama club that Alice launched last year. Now a BGHS freshman, she has returned to direct.
“I tend to get my foot stuck in the door,” she said about coming back to the middle school to direct the show. “But I didn’t feel stuck. I felt proud that we had done such a great job last year and had such a sound foundation. We had such a great future and interest, but I wanted to prepare the club for the next generation.”
She’s being joined by fellow ninth grader Marin Howard, stage manager for last year’s show “Bedtime Stories (As Told by Our Dad) (Who Messed Them Up),” who serving again in that position for “Rogues’ Gallery.”
“She found such a passion and home with it she wanted to help it continue and flourish,” Alice said of Marin.
They also recruited an assistant director Makena Bonaguro and assistant stage manager Emma Nester, both eighth graders. The intent is they will step up next year to put on the show.
They were selected through an application process, Alice explained. “We formed this program to work like an internship, so they will be able to step into those positions.”
“It’s a really fun and safe environment where I get to make friends and be creative,” Emma said of theater. “Stage managing taps into my Type A personality. I like checklists.”
She’s not been on stage before, though she’ll probably try out for the annual one acts when she gets to high school.
Makena’s involvement in the Horizon Youth Theatre’s one acts is what introduced her to directing. Her interest in theater was sparked when at age 6 she saw “Hamilton.” She’s seen it twice more.
Alice found the “Rogues’ Gallery” over the summer. “I was looking for a script with plenty of roles and opportunities for our growing numbers that would still have that comedic and fun story that they could bring to life.”
The leads are: Sophia Milks as O’Keefe, Ella Nickey as Hopper, and Jayden Dean and Godfrey.
The troupe had an influx of first-time performers, Alice said. She credited the all-school performance held last year with the increased interest. “When kids see kids theater they see an opportunity,” she said. “That’s why I think kids theater is so important because the representation of seeing a kid out there performing and pursuing something they love in art made them feel like they could.”
It’s certainly shown her the possibilities for herself.
She plans to go to college for theater arts, and then act before getting a graduate degree and pursuing a career in theater education.
Her work starting the Middle School Drama Club helped shape that vision. “Definitely I found a passion for the education and leadership part of it last year that I hadn’t found before.”
