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Churchill thespians spend three weeks on the ‘Fringe’

Potomac students are only group from Maryland to go to festival in Scotland

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo courtesy of Scott Felman Becky Garcia and Matt Sartucci, both 16 and juniors at Winston Churchill High School, rehearse a scene from ‘‘Feiffer’s People,” a series of 40 comedic sketches, that they performed at the American High School Theatre Festival. The drama students traveled to Scotland in August to perform at the festival that runs in conjunction with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival each year.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which first began in 1947 as the Edinburgh International Festival, has grown through the years and sold more than 1.5 million tickets during its run from Aug. 6-28. It is known throughout the world for its stage performances along with its unusual atmosphere of street entertainers.

More than 200 high schools from the United States applied to be a part of the Fringe’s American High School Theatre Festival. Churchill was one of 40 selected and the only school from Maryland.

‘‘I was stunned but also very excited for our school and our students,” said Jessica Speck, theater director and teacher at Churchill.

After months of rehearsals, fund-raising and an application process that included writing essays and sending video clips of past drama performances, the group of 21 students led by Speck headed to Scotland.

‘‘To be surrounded by thousands and thousands of people who love theater is an amazing way to spend a few weeks,” Speck said. ‘‘It’s really such a creative atmosphere.”

The group performed ‘‘Feiffer’s People,” a series of 40 comic skits on human nature and modern life, written by Jules Feiffer, a playwright and cartoonist for the Village Voice.

They performed four times from Aug. 18-23 as part of the American High School Theatre Festival, which runs in conjunction with the Fringe each year.

Theater groups from approximately 50 countries participated in the Fringe Festival, and according to the festival’s Web site, it featured 1,867 shows in 240 venues.

Speck chose ‘‘Feiffer’s People” to integrate as many performers into the show as possible. Students didn’t have to audition or be involved in theater at school to participate.

‘‘I love doing any kind of theater,” said Stephen Naimoli,16, a senior who has been involved in several of Churchill’s drama productions and who hopes to one day make theater his full-time career. ‘‘I wanted to be able to perform on an international stage.”

And performer Becky Garcia, 16, was excited to travel to Scotland and perform in front of an audience that came from around the world to the 60th annual event.

‘‘It just sounded like such an awesome opportunity,” Garcia said.

The road to Scotland wasn’t easy for the drama students or their director. Along with countless rehearsals beginning in February, they also had to raise money for the 15-day trip that included three days of sightseeing in London.

They held a silent auction at the Gourmet Gala, a banquet dinner where students served food that local chefs prepared. And along with asking family and friends for donations, they worked as counselors at a drama camp for 5- to 11-year-olds during the summer. They raised more than $40,000 for the trip, which cost a total of $110,000.

‘‘That was really good cast bonding time,” Garcia said about the time they spent fund-raising.

At the festival, the group got to watch as many other performances as they could fit in during their stay in Edinburgh. Their favorites included the D.C. Youth Ensemble’s African dance performance, ‘‘Deeply Rooted” and the professional performance by D.P productions of ‘‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!” Speck said.

Students also enjoyed many of the festival’s common sights, such as a man riding a unicycle while wearing a tutu and the Moscow State Circus performing in the street, Speck said.

‘‘It was quite an experience,” Naimoli said. ‘‘Everywhere you turned there was theater.”

‘‘People will do pretty much anything to get attention,” Speck added about performers on the street.

Each performer at the festival, including Churchill students, had to convince potential audience members that their show was worth attending, by putting on street performances and handing out fliers. That was the most difficult part because the students are on small stages set up along the busy street, Garcia said. Performing in a theater that sat 390 people didn’t phase students.

‘‘It’s a really extraordinary place to be for anyone who likes theater,” Speck said.

Churchill drama students fit in perfectly with the carnival atmosphere when they had to put on short previews of their show on platforms in the street to convince people to buy tickets to the full production.

‘‘It’s really cool to be able to do something you love so much,” said Garcia, a junior.

Still, Speck said that she doesn’t plan on taking her students back to the Fringe for at least three years because of the amount of fund-raising it takes to get there.

‘‘It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that was unforgettable,” Naimoli said.