Photo by Kyle Vertin
CLAIRE O’REILLY
Special to The Leader
It’s summer in 1942, and 15-year-old boys have gotten their hands on an anatomy book describing the female body. The mystery of the woman is solved. These boys have just unlocked every secret, every bit of knowledge about their opposite gender. One of these boys, Hermie, has also discovered the condom aisle in the drugstore — and there’s a whole song about it.
“It’s a summer of exploration,” said freshman theatre arts major and Production Manager Sydney Caprio. The story of Hermie in the musical “Summer of ’42” will come to life on campus this month.
“It’s a fun, intimate musical focused on the coming of age story of Hermie, a 15-year-old boy, and the people he meets while spending the summer on a small island off the coast of Maine,” said Performing Arts Company (PAC) President and Director of the show Kiernan Matts.
Matts particularly loves “Summer of ’42” because he believes the story is so funny and still so relatable even though it takes place 74 years ago. Billy Blair, a senior musical theatre major, agrees.
Blair will be playing Hermie, his first lead role. Hermie spends his summer with his friends, all coming to terms with growing up and experiencing new things.
He also has a romantic interest on the island. Hermie is in love with a woman much older than him, named Dorothy. Dorothy will be played by freshman vocal performance major Melanie McBride.
The audience will be in for a treat when McBride takes the stage.
“I sat in on auditions, and she really blew the roof off of that place. I think people will be talking about her,” said Caprio.
As for costumes, designed with the help of Caprio, Blair is especially excited to wear the white bomber jacket he has heard rumors about. The audience can actually look forward to seeing a lot of the color white incorporated into the production. This is because the story is told in a flashback style.
The white represents the ghost of Hermie’s past. Caprio said she tried very hard to keep the looks of the characters true to the time period and also true to the age of the characters. Although Blair is excited for that bomber jacket, Caprio is most excited for the character Aggie’s getup: a white button-up top with a white skirt and a pink cardigan. Aggie will be played by sophomore BFA acting major Angela Wheeler.
This is the first time in a few years that a PAC production will take place in the Multipurpose Room (MPR). Stage set-up and design in this space will make for a different sort of experience between the characters and the audience.
Matts’ vision for the MPR includes a “360 experience,” as he called it. There will be multiple entrances for the actors, coming in on all sides of the audience. “We use the aisles a lot. There’s going to be times that you’re going to have to turn around to watch what’s going on,” said Blair.
Matts wants to keep the audience members on their toes so that they can be transported back to 1942 along with the actors.
“I wanted the audience to feel as though they, too, were getting swept away by the memories and experiences of the past,” said Matts. Getting the audience to truly be immersed in this particular summer in Maine is a huge goal for this production.
“You’re going to walk into the MPR, and I think you’re gonna really feel like, even though it’s February, you’re suddenly in mid-July,” said Blair.
The production of “Summer of ’42” will be taking place Feb. 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 21 at 2 p.m.