Orchard Park, NY – The OPHS Music Department put on the Quaker rendition of Freaky Friday on March 13-16. Junior Diana Griesinger, who played Katherine Blake, and senior Maddy Shurtliffe, who played Ellie Blake, have both starred in past OPHS productions. However, this was Griesinger’s first time as lead.
Griesinger described this role as being more challenging for her because she had “to embody two personalities.” Despite being “a little nervous” about performing, she couldn’t wait to “see the cast shine on stage!”
Freaky Friday is a heart-warming and comedic story about a mother-daughter dynamic like no other. It focuses on the mother-daughter relationship between Katherine and Ellie Blake. Ellie and her mother, Katherine, can’t get along. Ellie wishes her mother would just leave her alone, while Katherine only wishes her daughter to reach her full potential. On the freakiest Friday of their entire lives, and the salient day before Katherine’s wedding, the pair switch bodies. The Blakes are forced to spend a day experiencing each other’s struggles and have to re-evaluate their entire relationship.
To earn a part in the performance, interested students are required to audition in dance, vocal, and acting. They are then given a score out of five in each area and are cast based on their scores. Mrs. Szczepanik directs OPHS dramas and musical productions. She works alongside Mrs. Quinn Tyrpa, the choreographer; Mrs. Calder, the costumer; and Mr. Bella, the set designer.
“I like having several sets of eyes and ears in the auditions,” Szczepanik explained. “Sometimes they see and hear things I miss.”
It is not only the actors who put in long days; the set-building team did as well. Salem Ben Abdallah, a stage crew member, “pulled a lot of 12-hour days.” He was in charge of microphone packs and the sound board and said that 11 members of the stage crew “all pitch in to help build and paint.”
Head of sound production Drew Slotman was tasked with swapping microphone packs during the live show. The drama department only has 18 mic packs that they can use, and it is his job to make sure each cast member who is about to speak their lines has one. The job is highly stressful, given Slotman must work at a fast pace to make sure everything runs smoothly. He said he “carries around extra batteries” in case of a microphone emergency.
