Drama students cut through ‘Edward ‘Scissorhands’

Mac Olsen
South Peace News

Edward Scissorhands is brought out of a secluded existence and trying to fit into a world that does not understand him and may not even want him. Such is the situation that Scissorhands finds himself in as he tries to fit in with society and his peers, while learning the lessons about social grace and ethics. But he bumbles his way through every situation he’s thrust into. Josh Stewart takes the leading role in the play of ‘Edward Scissorhands.’ He and the senior high drama class at St. Andrew’s School performed the play for all of the classes on Oct. 31. Mallory Caudron plays Kim, the girl who feels awkward about Scissorhands being in her life. However, she eventually becomes attracted to him. Elias Cunningham plays her boyfriend, Jim, who is taken aback by this tree-pruning and paper-cutting wizard. Jim is also manipulative and jealous of Scissorhands, fearing that he has won Kim’s affections. Jim sets up Scissorhands to be arrested for a break-and-enter. His ploy is that he tells Scissorhands that someone living there has some stuff that’s his, so he wants him to help get it back. Scissorhands spe- nds time in jail for the break-and-enter, then he is released and returns to Kim’s house. This doesn’t sit well with Jim, so he and Scissorhands duke it out near the end of the play. Scissorhands kills him, then runs off. Kim tells everyone that he has died, too. This is only one of the situations that Scissorhands has to contend with. At the start of the play, Kim’s mother, Peg (played by Lissa Collard), goes to Scissorhands’ mansion to sell cosmetics and discovers him there. She coaxes him to her residence and gives him a cosmetic makeover. Her family has to put up with his presence as best they can. Then Peg’s friend, Joyce (played by Jonah Brozel), gets her clutches into Scissorhands, making him part of the new salon she plans to open. At the future salon, she tries to seduce him with a kiss, but he pushes her to the floor and flees. Scissorhands also gets an “ethics lesson” from Kim’s family. They try to tell him what the best thing is to do if he should find a large bag of money laying around, but some of them are trying to make up their own minds about the best course of action. The play begins and ends with Kim as a grandmother, who tells her tale about Edward Scissor- hands to her granddaughter (played by Ginger Chalifoux). Kim says that she feels Scissorhands is alive, because it has snowed every Christmas since she encountered him. Thus, this tale ends without a “They lived happily ever after.” Courtney Lawrence, the high school drama teacher at St. Andrew’s School, says that her students spent three weeks building the sets and props and three to four weeks rehearsing. “They were a really good group. They were willing to take a risk and get up and perform in front of their peers,” says Lawrence. She also says they had only 40 minutes per period to work on the production. Lawrence emphasizes voice projection to students, and that they shouldn’t turn their backs to the audience. Also, they should keep going and/or improvise if they forget a line during a scene. She adds that most of these students are performing for the first time, but they get more comfortable with the acting process with each new play. Cunningham says it’s fun to become a character like Jim, who is not found in real life. “Jim’s a fun character to be,” says Cunningham. “It’s good to see the whole play come together.” The most difficult thing for him was keeping his lines straight in most scenes, because they were similar. Caudron, too, found this situation with many of her lines. She likes to work with her voice, especially on stage. “It’s fun, I get to yell and scream,” says Caudron. “I like to be loud.” As for Stewart, he says the makeup was itchy. He also had a hard time grasping things with all those scissor ends on his fingertips. His role was easy, however, because he says he had so few lines. Stewart is used to the stage and limelight, having played the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “I like performing and being in front of a crowd,” says Stewart. St. Andrew’s will hold its Christmas play on Dec. 19. Students will see the play during the day. A public performance will be held in the evening.

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