What the Dreamers Have to Say: Amélie Interview

What the Dreamers Have to Say: 

An Interview with the Cast and Crew of HHS Drama Club’s Amélie: Teen Edition

What do a goldfish, a garden gnome, and Elton John have in common? All three exist in the wonderful imagination of Amélie Poulain, the titular character of HHS Drama Club’s spring production of Amélie: Teen Edition. The Drama Club invited its audience on a dazzling adventure through a story of romance guided by an imagination run wild. While times may be hard for dreamers, what do the dreamers themselves have to say? The cast and stage managers sat down for an interview about the magical show they’re preparing to put on, and here’s what they have to say.

Amélie is a show that heavily focuses on the complexities of human connection, so how does its cast connect with the characters they play? Sebastian Alpizar, a junior cast as elderly artist Julien Dufayel and impulsive wildcard Adrien Wells, had this to say: “Dufayel is so mistakenly wise at some points in time and I feel like that could be anyone and I feel like that does pertain to me. I consider myself wise, but sometimes I can be so misguided and sometimes oblivious to things, so that’s how I connect to him. And also I just feel old. And my other character Adrien, he’s just a loveless romantic and he is crazy and I’m like that sometimes. You know, sometimes you just love and sometimes you’re crazy. I relate to him that way.” 

Actors often feel a sense of connection in finding part of themselves within the characters they play, but Ethan Freedley, a senior portraying Raphael Poulain and M. Collignon, embraced diving into qualities he does not share with his onstage counterparts. “Collignon is just a funny guy, and I think I’m a funny guy. Raphael, he’s like a very sophisticated dad and I feel like I’m not the most sophisticated person all the time so getting to play that character is a good dive into maturity and the future of my life as a father, probably, I don’t know.”

However, Eli DiPaolo seems to be comically caught in the middle. “I DON’T connect with the character of Joseph who is a misogynist. I’m not a misogynist, but I connect with the character of Bretodeau because he’s nostalgic for his past because I feel the same way a lot of the time.” Eli is a sophomore acting in the roles of the stubborn Joseph Cottard and the despairing Dominique Bretodeau.

Amélie was directed by Mrs. Higgins and vocally directed by Ms Gurcan. Most HHS students know them as teachers, but how do they measure up in the Drama Club space? Eli DiPaolo also wished to express that,  “They’re fun! I really like that they can be fun while also getting stuff done, if you know what I mean,” to put it simply. 

His fellow sophomore James Scalera, portraying Lucien Villeparisis and the Garden Gnome, had a few more words on the matter: “They’re amazing. I’ve known Mrs. Higgins since before I can remember and she’s always been this amazing person and director. And Ms Gurcan just changed the way I think about music, she changed the way I process singing and reading notes and things like that. They’ve been more influential than I can explain.”

Kaylee Babiak, the senior cast as the titular Amélie Poulain, also expressed her feelings on their teachings, “My favorite thing about Mrs. Higgins is a certain type of maternal kindness that she shows all of us. She is such a beautifully emotional person and when you continue to work with her, and this will be my fourth show with her, she cares for you the way she would care for her own children. She shows you so much more of her humanity than so many other teachers do and she creates a really safe space to feel and make really big choices which are things that have to be done in a show with material like this, especially for Amélie. My favorite thing about Ms Gurcan is that she knows how to have a good time. I’ve had plenty of music teachers who are very, very, very strict and are so methodical that they forget we’re people, too. I love how Ms Gurcan interacts with us as people.”

Cast and crew experiences are often very different, so here is what stage manager, Skyler Sarnoski, and assistant stage manager, Allyne Kureshepi, had to say about their experience working with Mrs. Higgins.  Sarnoski explained, “Mrs. Higgins doesn’t treat us like we’re just students that have to be taken care of. She understands us and goes through this process with us, she checks in with us about what we’re doing or what we need done.” Additionally, Kureshepi expressed, “They’re just really nice to us, and they check in on us and make sure that we’re ok, which I find really sweet, and they do that with everyone. They treat everyone equally no matter what part of the crew or cast you are. It feels like a real job.” 

The director and vocal director make up only a part of the drama club environment, so how does the rest of the experience compare? According to Grace Bielski, a junior acting in the roles of the grieving Gina Wells and the incomparable Elton John, it is, “How loving it is and how accepting. I always say this, but ever since I was a freshman I felt like this was a home for me. Everyone’s just so kind and welcoming to new members, old members, returning members if they come back to visit. I’m glad that I can, as a junior, be that for the freshmen who are here and keep it a family.” 

Sebastian Alpizar elaborated further by saying, “As much as we have our differences and some people might have some negativity towards each other, we always know that we’ll always be there for each other and we’re all a family. Each family has its difficulties and its problems, but at the end of the day we all want to succeed, we all want the other one to be better and go and get whatever they want and have a full and happy life. I think that environment is so welcoming and so incredible.” 

There may be a perceived divide between cast and crew given that one group gets more recognition than the other, but that is not the case. Both groups work equally as hard to put on a good show. According to Skyler Sarnoski, “The people and the environment are all very welcoming and no matter how new you are, people accept who you are, what you do, and everything about you.” Allyne Kureshepi also states, “It feels like family. I mean, we know when one of us is upset, we know each other’s boundaries to a certain extent, and we know how to handle it when things go wrong. That makes it like family.” 

As a newer member of the HHS Drama Club, Eli DiPaolo sarcastically said his favorite thing about the environment was. “Ugh, definitely NOT the people, I think it’s probably the lighting. I’m just kidding, it’s the people and the interconnectedness and how we’re all like a little family.” 

Acting as a senior role model this year, Kaylee Babiak said, “I think it has an ability to bring out something in you that you didn’t know you had. I’ve actually heard from a couple people at this school that, although they don’t take part in the drama club, it seems like we like each other a lot more than the people that do sports because they’re always competing. We really truly do all like each other, and if you don’t like each other I feel like we have a pretty good way of handling it. That kindness and that close familial relationship allows people to find and explore traits in this really safe and warm place, especially if you’re new. People who have never done theater before come into our club and find out that they’re a different person than they thought they were, which is really heartwarming.”

Performances of HHS Drama Club’s production of Amélie: Teen Edition took place in the HHS Auditorium from April 25 through April 28. Based on their responses, the cast and crew have clearly worked very hard and believe in the material. The show explores the complexities of human relationships and teaches strong morals about performing good deeds for the sake of being kind. It made its audiences laugh and cry, but most importantly, its audiences left as better people than they were when they entered the theater.