Auditions for Mean Girls began on August 14, but senior Natalie Gillan started practicing all the way back in June to secure the role of Regina George.
In the musical, Regina George sings high notes that require many practices to master, so Gillan’s months of practicing gave her the advantage when she was called back to audition for the part.
“It was crazy hard,” Gillan said. “I feel bad because I was just preparing, preparing, preparing, and the other girls who got [called back] were not preparing, preparing, preparing like I was, so it was a lot harder for them to hit the notes.”
The play, which will be featured November 2-5, is not only seeing this dedication from current students, but from alums as well. In fact, 2007 graduate Amanda LaMotte a Broadway actress who has performed in musicals such as The Music Man, Matilda and Hello, Dolly! LaMotte traveled from New York in order to help the cast with their choreography.
“And so she came in this one weekend, and we went through all the songs,” Sophomore Elliet McDermed, who plays Cady Heron, said. “ She blocked out all the dances that we were going to do for each song. I really liked the dances, and she’s amazing, it was really fun to work with her.”
McDermed has been in previous plays in the past such as Spongebob the Musical, however, this is her first time playing the protagonist.
“I couldn’t really see myself as any of the characters,” McDermed said. “I [didn’t] know if I am fit for any of these [roles]. I thought maybe I’d be the closest to Cady, because she seemed the most realistic. I [hoped] for whatever and [believed it is] going to be a fun time.”
In addition to the actors, the director of the play, Janine Papin, brings her own skill as well. In fact, Papin has been directing Trinity’s plays for 24 years, with each year consisting of at least three plays. However, her entire time here, this is the first time Mean Girls has ever been done at Trinity.
“I’m really excited that we’re getting to do the show,” Papin said. “I picked it because we have so much female talent and I wanted to showcase all of our strong females that we have.”
While playing different roles in the making of Mean Girls, McDermed and Papin’s favorite aspect is when all of the pieces of the play come together in their rehearsal practices.
“My favorite part of the play is probably watching all the pieces come together, and actually being able to run through the show,” Mcdermed said. “And just seeing the characters that people create.”
Papin agrees with Mcdermed’s belief, and believes that when the actors memorize their lines they are able to truly make their performance come alive.
“My favorite part of rehearsals is when everyone is really kind of working as an ensemble, and really being aware and connecting and starting to make good acting choices, kind of coming alive on stage, which is what they just started doing right now.” Papin said.
Mean Girls, which is designed to be a comedic performance, sheds light on the dangerous stereotype of cliques in school. The musical strives to convey the message of kindness and inclusion.
“This tells the story of what happens sadly in high schools, which are cliques and people being mean to each other,” Papin said, “Hopefully this [play] does not condone mean behavior, [it] sheds light on the fact that it hurts, people get hurt, and people get pulled down. There’s a moral to the story, even though there’s a lot of funny gags, the moral is we have to treat each other with kindness.”
Go “fetch” yourself a ticket for Mean Girls on November 2 at 4:30pm, November 3 and 4 at 7:30pm and November 5 at 2:30pm.
