Last November 20, the Grade 10 batch had performed a self-produced and self-directed original musically inclined play based from their take on Dante Alighieri’s La Comedia Divina.
It starred Clarisse Ngo as Pia; Karlaiah Ngo, Acora; Ryanne Chua, Remi; Sophia Tojino, Liv; Timothy Aguinaldo, August; Annika Chua, Prometia; and Hesky Winata, as the narrator.
Performing three musical numbers, one after the other, depicting the hardships each of the three characters—Liv, August, and Pia—were experiencing.
“The play was based on Dante Alighieri’s most famous work, the Inferno. It was quite difficult to compress 34 cantos into a 50-minute-or-less play, let alone 3 books’ worth of content,” said Sedric Yang, one of the six students chosen to conceptualize the themes of the divine comedy.
“We decided to pick something we thought would bring out the school’s culture. Unfortunately, to achieve this, we had to sacrifice some fundamental elements of the Inferno. Coming up with the flow of the play was kinda hard, especially considering how we had very limited time and our inability to cover all 9 circles of Hell,” he continued.
“We finally settled on displaying 3 concepts or elements of the Inferno: Greed, which Liv exhibited, when she was tempted to cheat; violence, which was displayed by August, when he realizes he would never really fit in; and regret followed by redemption, which was displayed through Pia’s actions upon realizing she kinda messed up and affected everyone around her through her actions.”
Of course, it would not have been an exceptional performance without the hard work of everyone involved.
“Although we have experienced performing a play earlier this year for our English subject, we had never experienced writing an original script or prepared for such a large-scale production. Everything was new. Members of our batch had to learn how to use the music and light equipment alongside having to learn how to coordinate with the actors. Similarly, the script had to undergo many changes even until the last few practices on the day of the performance,” said Eyana Lao, a director, alongside Maxine Hormillo.
“As a scriptwriter, it was hard to create something that could reflect reality. It may sound easy and all, but writing dialogues and coordinating how a conversation will work out is pretty hard, especially when you doubt your own imagination and creativity,” said Fiona Jao, a script writer.
“There was pressure for sure, it’s not like I’m just lights okay, just on and off. I had to know all the timing and queues for each scene. So I really read the script again and again because I didn’t want to be a burden for the batch. But it had that sense of satisfaction, where when it ended and everybody did a good job it was really one of the best memories I’ve had and would certainly do it again,” said Gerard Choa, from the lights team.
Actors, too, have had their fair share of hardships while rehearsing.
“Singing is hard, it took me like 10 times of just listening to creep before I could get the tune. My character is somewhat near to me so it was easier to memorize and act out the lines. I really love acting things like this, where my lines are short and my actions play a larger role in my character. In the end, I realized that it was nice to sing no matter who you are and whether or not you liked the music. It gives me a good feeling portraying the character itself,” Timothy said.
Some had even received repercussions for over practicing.
“Days before the performance I got sick so I had a hard time delivering the lines the way I wanted to and I also had a hard time concentrating. I would mess up my lines and end up redoing it from the start. But, I was determined to deliver a good performance and I didn’t want to disappoint my batchmates,” said Clarisse.
“We would constantly repeat a scene because we would always mess up a part. It was also difficult for us to find time to practice because of our schedule and because of all the requirements that we had to do. In the end, we all enjoyed doing the play, and to me that’s all that matters.”
“The day before the show I had a nose bleed because of shouting too much, and on the day itself I had a nose bleed again,” said Karlaiah. “Being an actress is no joke because you really need to study and be the character where you must sacrifice your time. What I felt during the performance was pure bliss, adrenaline and a little bit of nervousness because there was a scene where it was changed and practiced the day before. In the end, it was worth it and we all had fun!”
Other actors included, Christian Tia, Elyza Yap, Christine Tupas, Rysean Go, Josh Ty, Roswell Catamio, Shaun Sy, Aaron Houston, Jesriel Nuñez, Jazen Cordero, Laurence Esquivel, Brigette Lu, Wesley Padilla, Coby Tan, and Rudy De Leon.
The production team included the script writers, Matthew Chiu Lo, Eunso Im, Fiona Jao, Rysean Go, Peter Mutuc, Jadyn Ong, and Sedric Yang; set designers, Martyn Cabisudo, Princess Chan, Bea Chin, Jasmine Chua, Yani Ding, Lisa Liu, Sofia Quito, Pearle Tan, Hannah Tayzon, and Lo Kai Ting.
The music team, John Haw, Isaac Javid, Euan Josefa, Archibald Po, Halley Reyes, Juan Sy-wico, and Jose Tumanan; the lights team, Gerard Choa, William Lim, Minjun Kim, Andrea Manila, Shawn Tan, and Derrick Wang. The stage hands, Harren Chong, Sydnie Hall, Ethan Kim, Peter Mutuc, Zinan Wang, and Ambrose Yang; the poster makers, Hannah Tan and Hariette Tan.
Story by Bea Chin
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