Two actors, one role in high school spring play

Higher interest in acting in spring play means lead role split between two actors

Normally, live theater performances assign one actor to a role, or one actor to multiple roles. This year, the Forest Lake Area High School spring play requires the opposite: two actors – juniors Lucia Stene and Chloe Larson – will be playing the same role for two of the four performances, allowing a different variation of the show to take place with each actor.

Stene and Larson will each perform two of the four shows in which they play the mother in “You Can’t Take it With You,” a story about a quirky family colliding with a conventional family.

Admittedly, Stene and Larson agree the way they each carry the role is different from the other, but that definitely doesn’t make one right or wrong.

“It’s genuinely interesting to see the differences and stuff because whenever you do a show, like, ‘Oh, you don’t have to do it this way.’ But this shows that you literally don’t have to do [a character] in a certain way,” Stene said.

“I just roll with it,” Larson added.

“Trying to learn lines, trying to learn movements, trying to learn ‘-isms’ at home is hard, and then we play the character differently,” Stene said, adding it’s hard to base her style off of Larson when she is on stage rehearsing their role.

They’re hopeful the community will take advantage of seeing how different the same show can feel on back-to-back performances with different actors cast in the same role.

“Just because you’ve seen a show once, or seen a certain program or group do a show, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go see it again because it could be completely different,” Larson said.

Even though it has been a challenge for the two to learn one role with split rehearsal time, spring play director Cassi Betker thinks this might be something they continue exploring to allow more students to participate.

For instance, there are only 18 cast members in “You Can’t Take it With You,” but 32 students auditioned to be a part of this production.

“Finding a play with a lot of people is difficult, so it’s that tough call of having to make those cuts,” Betker said.

Even with so many actors not making the final cut, many students opted to help in other ways, such as set building or learning lighting. There is also a new backstage job this year: kitten wranglers. The theater department partnered with Northwoods Humane Society to have two kittens in the production.

Both Stene and Larson are some of the few who get to work with real kittens on stage, but they’ll only get a few days to rehearse with them before opening night on Thursday, April 25.

Given the unique “props” will have personalities of their own on the stage, Stene said, “We’ve made sure not to, like, over-assess the parts when the cats are on stage. We don’t nitpick that.”

The light bulb to have kittens in the show dawned on Betker when she remembered Masquers Theatre performed “Annie” with a real dog from Northwoods as a way to promote pet adoption.

“We wanted to kind of teach the kids, too, that theater goes above and beyond the auditorium. That it can really start to reach out and bring awareness and social issues to light,” Betker said.

Returning this year with “You Can’t Take it With You” is a 180-degree shift from “Radium Girls,” which won a Spotlight Award nomination by the Hennepin Theater Trust, and the cast had the chance to perform the show at the State Theatre in Minneapolis.

“I’m trying to keep building with that energy,” Betker said.

Similar to the cyclical rotation of musicals the high school musical director orchestrates annually, Betker wants to ensure the students going through the theater program receive a wide breadth of experience in different genres.

“This one brings them to a whole different style of work and teaching a different process of acting, and learning those cues and pacing of a comedic show has been challenging and fun,” Betker said.

“You Can’t Take it With You” is about the Sycamore family and their various hobbies or pastimes like making fireworks in the basement, playing the xylophone or being a snake connoisseur as a career path.

“I love just how chaotic everything is. And then despite the chaos, it’s a lovable dynamic. It’s been really fun watching each of the cast members, kind of, explore that dynamic,” said student director Naomi Puyleart.

“You Can’t Take it With You” will debut at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 25; Friday, April 26; Saturday, April 27; and at 2 p.m. on Sunday April 28. Tickets are $8 per student and senior, and $10 per adult.

Northwoods Humane Society will have a booth set up outside of the theater for attendees to inquire about adopting the kittens or other animals.