LAKE FOREST – Lake Forest High School students will perform Italian American Reconciliation, a folktale by John Patrick Shanley, premiered in 1988. Shanley also wrote the critically acclaimed film Moonstruck and the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt.
Performances are at 7 p.m. on Thursday January 26, Friday January 27, and Saturday January 28 in the David Miller Theater at LFHS. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Business Education faculty member Joseph Pulio directs the play while Director of Theater Dennis Mae provides technical direction. Student directors are Bailey Lawrence and Kelly Page.
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Set in New York’s Little Italy, Italian American Reconciliation is a working class comic opera that explores the conflict between men and women and what it means to be a man. It’s a straightforward philosophy, as we learn from Aunt May (played by Gracie Stockton): There’s “no strength between men and women…no courage….things are gonna go right and wrong and then you keel over.”
Italian American Reconciliation is full of life and love with a little attempted murder thrown in. Aldo Scalicki (Bryan Kingsley) is our narrator, “an experienced man”, telling the audience that he’s here to teach us “sumthin’ tonight”. He’s worried about his childhood friend, Huey.
Huey Maximilian Bonfigliano (Zach Demet) is deflated yet resolute, wearing his amorous conflicts on his sleeve. After much contemplation and awful poetry, he decides he has learned what it takes to be a man and that would mean reconciling with his homicidal ex-wife, Janice. We question his sanity when we meet the unstable harridan Janice, whom Morgan Cohen plays with a sharp tongue and a sure shot. Why would Huey go after Janice when his long-suffering waitress girlfriend, Teresa (Michelle Alonzi) makes a wonderful minestrone and is waiting for him with open arms?
The David Miller Theater is cozy but the three-section set makes it feel spacious with Huey’s apartment, Janice’s moonlit balcony and the homey Soup House luncheonette. Director of Theater Dennis Mae designed the structure of the set while student Ryan Eleveld selected the finishes. Staff member Corey Holmer also provided technical assistance and Janice Pytel designed the costumes.
Nick Ortiz is student Technical Director with Erika Herrmann Stage Manager, assisted by Andrea Robles. Victoria Walsh designed the lighting, operated by Jack Bailey, and Cooper Sampson designed sound, operated by Isabelle Andress. Nicolette Giangiorgi handles props. Jay Graham is doing hair and make-up. Running and set construction crew includes Isabelle Andress, Ryan Benson, Kiera Burns, Alex Boyd, Ryan Eleveld, Laine Gamrath, Meghan Geraghty, Grace Kellie, and Susanna Noble.
Submitted by a representative of LFHS Theatre