DEAR DIARY
by Mollie Lief
In an effort to both raise money for the Ed Theatre program
last fall and take advantage of the immense talent among our candidates, a
group of us devised a show called DEAR DIARY. Inspired by a real moment from
childhood or adolescence, each actor created a mini theater piece that brought
to life a diary entry. For some – like Abby Shuppy and Marissa Porto – the
entries were real, discovered in parents’ attics or under beds; for others,
performance pieces were spawned from memories or unfulfilled wishes, as was the
case with Sobha Paredes, who sang a tear-inducing “Tomorrow” as Annie.
Most of the candidates performed
songs (accompanied by musical director, Laura Mulholland) that ran the gamut
from Maurice Chevalier’s “Mimi” (Ben Posner) to Rob Dunn’s Elvis/Les Miserables
number to Jeff Bance doing, well, Jeff Bance. Christine Gonzalez-DeJohn and
Jessica Rosa both performed songs they love and that represented an exciting
moment in their adolescence, while others, like Carrie Edelman Isaacman and
Jonah LeDoux, performed monologues.
Before the show, audience members were invited to fill out
a form asking for specific childhood memories (“When was the first time you
felt artistic?”), which were then shared as interstitials by Lloyd Woodcock,
whose anthropomorphic portrayal of the omniscient “The Diary” bound it all
together. As a reminder to be inspired by who we once were and why we got into
theater in the first place, The Diary assures us at the end of the show, “Those
moments that once made you feel inspired or ashamed, artistic or happy, will be
right here. In crayon. Where you left them.”
DEAR DIARY
Co-Produced by Marissa Porto, Mollie Lief, and the CCNY Ed Theatre
Department
Directed by Mollie Lief
Musical Directed by Laura Mulholland
Devised by Jeff Bance, Christine Gonzalez-DeJohn, Rob Dunn, Carrie
Edel Isaacman, Jonah LeDoux, Mollie Lief, Sobha Paredes, Marissa Porto,
Benjamin Posner, Jessica Rosa, Abby Shuppy, and Lloyd Woodcock.
It was a wonderful event!!!
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