“Lost in Yonkers” almost didn’t make it to the Brown County High School stage, but when the kids were consulted, it was their pick.
Theater department head Laurie Godfrey had originally planned to put on “The Giver” as the fall production, which is the show the thespians also take to state competition. But then she found out that the state competition did not have the projector facilities they needed.
The decision was then made to go with “Lost in Yonkers” instead. But then, the department could not get the rights to cut the play down to take it to competition.
Then, Godfrey picked “Anastasia” to fit the cast in place, but she had trouble finding more student actors to fill four more small roles.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“We sat down one day and said, ‘Alright; we’re in trouble. Let’s vote as to whether we stick this out or go back to ‘Lost in Yonkers.’ And 100 percent, they said, ‘Go back to Lost in Yonkers,’” Godfrey said of her students.
“Lost in Yonkers” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning comic drama written by famed playwright Neil Simon.
The lead male character, “Jay,” played by sophomore Nathan Lewis, and his younger brother, “Arty,” (sophomore Cole Zeigler) are taken by their father “Eddie, (junior Cameron Casada) to stay with their grandmother in Yonkers, New York, in the 1940s.
Eddie expects to be gone almost a year as he works to pay off debt. His mother, an immigrant from Germany (played by junior Kaya Gore), is less than enthused about having the two boys stay with her and her 35-year-old daughter Bella (sophomore Marie Fields), who suffers from a mental illness. But she eventually agrees to look after the two teens.
“During the time they are with her, they go through a lot, because she can be vicious. She can be cruel. As kids, they don’t understand her reasoning behind it right away, so it’s really hard for them to survive in that house,” Godfrey said.
The two boys did not grow up around this side of the family, so they learn about the dynamics over the nearly yearlong period they live there.
“As they’re watching this whole thing play out, they get more and more understanding about who their family is and how they became the way they were,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey said this fall season has been a journey, with a young cast and technical crew. The theater department is still building itself back up after 47 seniors graduated from the department two years ago.
Parts are being filled by students who have never had major roles before, and some who have participated in previous shows as only understudies.
“It’s really been interesting to see them progress, understanding more and more of their characters. It’s not an easy show,” Godfrey said.
“We have a young group, but they’re working really hard.”
The theater department will learn after the show closes whether or not they’ll be able to do the whole thing at competition. That will require approval from the state thespian officers, who will make a decision after watching the show during its second weekend.
“We’ll know shortly after we close whether we made that cut or not. If we did, we have to figure out how to travel that set,” Godfrey said.
Character connections
Fields, who plays Bella, had never been in Godfrey’s acting classes before, but at auditions, she brought everyone to tears.
“There’s this wonderfully fine line you have to play between this person, make her as real as possible and not a caricature. Bella has to be very, very real. … She (Marie) really has started really adjusting and trying to keep Bella very true to what she believes in. I think she has had a lot of success in it and I hope the audience feels the same way.”
Lewis’ character goes through his own journey in the play and becomes the backbone of the show, Godfrey said.
“Watching his journey through the play and how he feels about what happens is really powerful also,” she said.
Fields describes her character as a person who gets excited and sad easily.
“She’s a very emotional character. She’s super sweet, though. She loves her brothers and she loves her sister. She loves her mom, even though her mom doesn’t treat her the best. She’s just a super sweet girl,” Fields said.
Fields is dedicated to making her character feel real and to treating the role with respect.
“I knew that I didn’t want to treat Bella like she was humorous, like her mental illness was humorous; I wanted to make her very real and very honest so that I didn’t offend anyone in the audience. Mental illness is not something you should joke about; it’s not something that is laughable,” she said.
“I tried my best to not over-act and make it comical, because it’s not.”
Fields had played supporting roles, worked tech and was in the chorus for three other productions. She was excited to land a lead this fall.
“But I was also really, really nervous, because I have never had any sort of acting class before, so I had no idea what I was doing, but I was really, really excited,” she said.
“I’m super proud of our techies. We’re a very new group, young cast, very inexperienced, but we’ve all worked so hard and overcome so much just within the couple of months we’ve been practicing,” she said.
Lewis said he relates to his character. He plays the 15-year-old older brother of Zeigler’s 13-year-old Arty.
“The way we react, we have to build up anger. When I get angry or something, it, like, builds up, and I blow up. That’s how it is in the show. I have some similarities to him and some not,” he said.
“He’s more serious, but he can be funny at points. He’s funny at the right moments. I’m funny in the wrong moments,” he added with a laugh.
Lewis’ older brother, Cole, influenced him to follow in his footsteps in Brown County theater.
In fact, if Nathan gets more leads than Cole in Brown County High School theater productions, the oldest Lewis will buy him a steak dinner — and it’s getting close. Lewis, a sophomore, has only two more leads to snatch. This is the fourth production he has participated in and his first major role.
“Theater has always been like a home to me. I’ve gotten through some of my worst points in theater. The theater community has always helped me through it,” he said.
The student actors and Godfrey all hope the community comes out to catch a show.
Godfrey said the play is “beautifully written.”
“The way he takes a look at each of these characters and makes you care about them. … It has its comedic moments and it has some major power,” she said.
“I think people like to see that kind of mix and feel something for the people they see on stage. If we do it right, they will.”
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Jay: Nathan Lewis
Arty: Cole Zeigler
Eddie: Cameron Casada
Bella: Marie Fields
Grandma: Kaya Gore
Grandma Understudy: Olivia Tincher
Louie: Jackson Kelp
Gert: Emma McClintock
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What: Brown County High School theater production of the comedic drama “Lost in Yonkers”
When: Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 7 to 9 at 7 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m.
Where: Brown County High School, 235 Schoolhouse Lane
Tickets: $5 for students, $7 for adults at the door. Kids 3 and younger are admitted free.
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