During a recent production of Mean Girls: High School Edition, through Spotlight Music and Theater Academy at the Scituate Performing Arts Center, many local teens and SHS students, including myself, got to experience firsthand the effort and passion it takes to truly create a theatrical masterpiece. Beyond just a form of entertainment, those who partake in theater gain so much more than what is seen at the surface.
As local actress SHS sophomore Caroline Janezic would say, “You have to be at 110% all the time.” Janezic recently had the honor of playing the lead role of Cady Heron in this specific Mean Girls production. She described the rehearsal process as challenging and demanding, but she was very grateful for the experience, as it pushed her to be better than she ever thought possible. Outside of theater itself, Janezic still reaped many benefits from participating in the show: “Mean Girls has helped me grow as a performer but also a person,” she said, noting how participating in the show boosted her confidence exponentially and introduced her to so many incredible people.
Similarly, her castmate SHS sophomore Declan Lemerande, who played the role of Kevin G, explained that the difficult aspects of the show came down to the “immense [amounts] of moving parts, and huge portion of singing and dancing.” Lemerande felt that all their hard work paid off and they ended up getting to create “a really well put together show, full of life, energy, and memories.”
The show itself was received very well by audience members, who could personally relate to the message of the show: “I’m laughing, I’m crying, I’m connecting with those characters, ” said SHS sophomore Teagan Kelly, friend of many cast members and a longtime supporter of the South Shore theater community.
Students who took part in the show found that everyone could benefit from the coaching and the experience. Participating in theater “ teaches people lessons they might not see [or] have access to in their own life. It kinda opens up their world view,” explained Janezic. By either watching the show, which allows one to experience and understand different perspectives and see life through different lenses, or participating in the show, which allows an actor to truly learn about a completely different person and find reasoning behind their actions, theater invokes empathy in anyone involved in it.
The SHS actors agreed that theater can truly build character and help you to improve in so many aspects of life, and it is truly a life-changing experience and a chance to have a genuinely good time. Lemerande remarked, “ I do have the time of my life!”