nothin Hillhouse Eases Down The Road | New Haven Independent

Hillhouse Eases Down The Road

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On Tuesday evening, the students in the Academic Theatre Company at James Hillhouse High School were airborne. They were doing a strenuous warm-up for their rehearsal of The Wiz — which will be playing at Hillhouse High School from March 19 to March 22 — and learning to sing and fly at the same time.

My hope is that you will all be able to open up those lungs and sing while you’re dancing,” said choreographer Cheyenne Santello, because Ease On Down the Road’ is not easy.”

They moved on to practicing their routine for Brand New Way.” As soon as director Ty Scurry called for action, the room lit up, the students falling into raucous line. They started in on their steps.

Why is nobody singing?” Scurry said, cajoling them. Their voices rose all at once. We learned this song vocally,” Scurry added, so what I need you to do is start singing out.” It was a question of getting the students in shape, of getting them more comfortable with the material. The tone in Scurry’s voice conveyed that he knew they would get there, with practice.

Energy was great — just don’t forget to control it,” Santello said.

Can we run it again?” said Aveion Downs, playing Scarecrow. He spoke for the room. They were eager, ready to get it right.

Scurry.

The Academic Theatre Company is the brainchild of Ty Scurry, its director of dramatic arts, who is currently working toward his bachelor of arts in theater education starting at Gateway with plans to transfer to Southern Connecticut State University. A graduate of Wilbur Cross High School, Scurry distinguished himself as an actor while he was a student there, appearing in multiple productions of its drama club.

“My senior year at Cross, I was helping the band at Hillhouse,” he said, and he realized that high school didn’t have a drama club. As a student, he had watched Wilbur Cross teacher Salvatore DeLucia build up that school’s drama club and thought he might try something similar at Hillhouse. He connected with teacher Tim Kane, who agreed to be the drama club’s faculty advisor. Last April he put together a proposal and a budget and submitted it to the school’s administration.

“It didn’t take a lot,” Scurry said. Kane was “on board” from the start, and “the administration really wants this to happen.”

Scurry picked The Wiz for the Academic Theatre Company’s first show because “I wanted a show the students could connect with,” he said. The Wiz fit the bill not only because of its general familiarity — the show has remained in the popular imagination since its successful Broadway run in 1975, in no small part thanks to the 1978 film version starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson — but because “a lot of the characters, they’ve seen on the block,” Scurry said. The students also hear the music, a mix of R&B and gospel, “on the daily.” Plus, Scurry added, “it’s ridiculously fun.”

Auditions for The Wiz began in October, with the cast decided the day before Halloween. The first rehearsals began in November and have been going three days a week from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

“It has been a journey because there’s no theater class” at Hillhouse, Scurry said. In the beginning, he said, “I was not only giving stage directions, but teaching what a stage direction is. It was a little extra, but it’s worth it.”

On Tuesday evening, Scurry took much of the cast into the hallway to work with them on individual parts.

Santello.

Meanwhile, Santello kept working with the four principals — Downs as Scarecrow, Victoria Kirkland as Dorothy, Shawn Danny Sufra as Tinman, and Jack Marchand as Lion — on their dance routines. When to spin. When to strike a pose. When to move as a cohesive unit, and when to bounce off one another.

Sufra, Marchand, Kirkland, Downs.

Soon, the routine was clicking. The students began moving as one, clearly enjoying themselves and entertaining the others who had returned from the hallway to reconvene at the end of rehearsal.

Scurry and Santello both had notes for the members of the Academic Theatre Company, about bringing up their energy level even more, but also channelling and focusing it. There were still more lines to memorize, too — but enough time to do it, as well.

This is a train,” Scurry said. It has left the station and it is moving at a good pace.” The trick was to keep up that pace, and not move too fast or too slow.

You are really good,” Scurry said. I’m very proud. Thank you for being here, and thank you for being dedicated. Let’s make sure we’re connecting as a family. Before you leave, I want you to hug someone and tell them something good they did today.”

As the students quickly reassembled Kane’s classroom to get it ready for the morning, Scurry was waiting at the door to say goodbye to each of them.

I feel everybody should have a chance to explore something they love and explore the arts,” he said. As long as they’re having fun and they’re doing what they love, to me, that’s all that matters.”

Academic Theatre Company’s production of The Wiz runs at James Hillhouse High School from March 19 to March 22. Tickets will go on sale on Feb. 14.

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