By Kate Lurie
Every year around this time I find myself going, again and again, to see The Littleton High School Mane Stage Theatres fall production. Each time I go, I have a higher and higher expectation for the performance. This year, Crystal Skillman’s offbeat comedy “Geek” takes the cake for an astounding show with great actors, technical crew members, and a knockout set.
Opening with two young girls Danya and Honey, played by Senior Natalie Parkhurst and Sophomore Brynne Kilocoyne, respectively, going to comic con to meet a writer of Manga series, and to complete a journey that tests their friendship, endurance, and even sprinkle in pop culture references.
After finishing the play, I found that the actor who truly took my breath away was Parkhurst in the lead character. As the protagonists deal with a recent suicide of a friend, the play ends with Parkhurst breaking down and truly showing her full potential as an actress. She had an extreme range as a character, and made the audience laugh and cry.
Along with the leads, other up and coming Mane Stage actors made this play professionally and vastly entertaining. The first that comes to mind for me is Freshman Bella Houck. Playing the main antagonist “Gwen/Cleo”, Houck was incredibly articulate and seemed in very much in touch with her character.
The cast of this production was phenomenal, but what made this production special for me was the tech crew. As director Talia Liccardello explained it, the Thursday Night show had certain tech additions that brought the show into a modern format.
Including a screen upstage used for storytelling purposes or set, voice changing microphones, and smoke machines, the tech crew brought their all to this production. Often the behind-the-scenes contributors don’t get the credit they deserve, and for me, this performance was so admirable because of the lights, sound, props, costumes, set, and running crews.
Unfortunately, I found that a lot of the actors played very predictable roles. I have seen every Mane Stage production, and the same people play the roles of the same type. Though I don’t want to call any specific person out, I got a bit bored with certain characters and would like to see some variation.
That being said, I would definitely recommend going to see “Geek”. It’s fun, witty, and a heartwarming story. All of the students who put this production together clearly worked very hard, and it pays off. Though not everyone has been to comic con, or even lightsaber fights a security guard, we all have our inner geek, and this production brings it out.
