As some of my fellow classmates may know, I was in our school’s fall production this year. It was called “Snow Angel,” written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by our school’s drama and dance teacher, as well as main WEB/LINK leader, Ms. Catherine D.
Unfortunately, the plot is rather confusing and barely makes sense to any of the actors themselves. I will make an attempt to explain. Apparently there is a group of teenagers (with distinct personalities) in a town called Deerpoint, Vermont – sometime in the mid- or late-1900s. One of them is quite apart from the rest of the group: Frida Jensen, a lonely girl who is constantly sad and/or angry and is teased and talked about by the other social groups.
Supposedly, one day Frida read an article about a girl named Eva who went missing in “the biggest blizzard in the history of the town” while looking for her blind little sister. Frida then writes about meeting this girl in her journal, beginning as a “lie” to comfort herself; however, “Eva” seems to sort of come to life and become her own entity. (It’s very confusing.)
A short time after Frida writes in her journal about the girl Eva, the other teenagers come upon her journal and read it aloud together. Now, knowing about Eva, some of the characters thought that Frida had made the girl up, and some believed her. In any case, some of these other teens begin writing about Eva in their own journals. Most are made up, but some, astonishingly, might actually have been true (incidents with Helen, Benny, and Jill, most likely). (As I said, it’s confusing.)
Through some arrangement, a search is made for the “missing” Eva during a snowy, windy night.
Nearing the end of the search, a juvenile delinquent (Crank) who is jealous of the sweet, shy boy with allergies (Benny) who got together with his crush, the kind girl (Jill) locks and sets a shed on fire where Jill is alone and writing in her journal. He also helps her out of the shed before it can burn down, “trying to look like the hero.” All the characters rush on, scared and confused, and Crank blames the incident on Eva, who by this point may or may not exist. He has an intense argument with Frida, who learns that the others were mostly making Eva up to “have something to write in [their] journals,” but still insists that she saw Eva for herself. When Crank makes a claim that Eva died by drowning in a frozen pond, Frida rebukes him and starts making up her own story about what happened to Eva. To her extreme benefit comes the other teens, who begin to add to her story. After that Crank becomes more isolated and Frida makes some friends.
It’s still unclear whether Eva really existed (as Frida’s friend) or not; but, through certain evidence in the script, I find that she really did appear to some of the teenagers, as they gained things from her that they would not have been able to if they had not met her.
It’s truly confusing.
Other than that, the rehearsals were pretty fun, although some people had to make an effort to learn their lines and blocking after slacking off. I feel like we worked hard enough to bear the good results.
Surprisingly, some of the audience said that they actually kind of got the story and enjoyed watching the character development. A certain person in the audience said that he usually thinks that plays are very boring, and that he liked “Snow Angel” very much. That just shows you how much success we really had.
I had the part of a fraternal twin named Fran. My “twin” was named Betty, and was played by April N., a junior. She’s shorter and smaller than me, although a similar ethnicity, so it worked out. We did wear matching costumes, with the claim that “our mother has obsessive compulsive disorder.” I noticed that our characters, more especially Fran, were quite – having no other way to put it – blond, in some respect. Oh, well.
There’s tons more I could write – about the technical parts, the rehearsals, the food, the cast party; but I’ve got to write up an article for journalism, so I’ll come back to this if I have time.
Unfortunately, the plot is rather confusing and barely makes sense to any of the actors themselves. I will make an attempt to explain. Apparently there is a group of teenagers (with distinct personalities) in a town called Deerpoint, Vermont – sometime in the mid- or late-1900s. One of them is quite apart from the rest of the group: Frida Jensen, a lonely girl who is constantly sad and/or angry and is teased and talked about by the other social groups.
Supposedly, one day Frida read an article about a girl named Eva who went missing in “the biggest blizzard in the history of the town” while looking for her blind little sister. Frida then writes about meeting this girl in her journal, beginning as a “lie” to comfort herself; however, “Eva” seems to sort of come to life and become her own entity. (It’s very confusing.)
A short time after Frida writes in her journal about the girl Eva, the other teenagers come upon her journal and read it aloud together. Now, knowing about Eva, some of the characters thought that Frida had made the girl up, and some believed her. In any case, some of these other teens begin writing about Eva in their own journals. Most are made up, but some, astonishingly, might actually have been true (incidents with Helen, Benny, and Jill, most likely). (As I said, it’s confusing.)
Through some arrangement, a search is made for the “missing” Eva during a snowy, windy night.
Nearing the end of the search, a juvenile delinquent (Crank) who is jealous of the sweet, shy boy with allergies (Benny) who got together with his crush, the kind girl (Jill) locks and sets a shed on fire where Jill is alone and writing in her journal. He also helps her out of the shed before it can burn down, “trying to look like the hero.” All the characters rush on, scared and confused, and Crank blames the incident on Eva, who by this point may or may not exist. He has an intense argument with Frida, who learns that the others were mostly making Eva up to “have something to write in [their] journals,” but still insists that she saw Eva for herself. When Crank makes a claim that Eva died by drowning in a frozen pond, Frida rebukes him and starts making up her own story about what happened to Eva. To her extreme benefit comes the other teens, who begin to add to her story. After that Crank becomes more isolated and Frida makes some friends.
It’s still unclear whether Eva really existed (as Frida’s friend) or not; but, through certain evidence in the script, I find that she really did appear to some of the teenagers, as they gained things from her that they would not have been able to if they had not met her.
It’s truly confusing.
Other than that, the rehearsals were pretty fun, although some people had to make an effort to learn their lines and blocking after slacking off. I feel like we worked hard enough to bear the good results.
Surprisingly, some of the audience said that they actually kind of got the story and enjoyed watching the character development. A certain person in the audience said that he usually thinks that plays are very boring, and that he liked “Snow Angel” very much. That just shows you how much success we really had.
I had the part of a fraternal twin named Fran. My “twin” was named Betty, and was played by April N., a junior. She’s shorter and smaller than me, although a similar ethnicity, so it worked out. We did wear matching costumes, with the claim that “our mother has obsessive compulsive disorder.” I noticed that our characters, more especially Fran, were quite – having no other way to put it – blond, in some respect. Oh, well.
There’s tons more I could write – about the technical parts, the rehearsals, the food, the cast party; but I’ve got to write up an article for journalism, so I’ll come back to this if I have time.