Spotlight On: Fuddy Meers

Note: This is the first of our summer-long "Spotlight" series, exploring different aspects of the extensive Seattle Public Theater summer youth program.

Every summer, a group of students from Seattle Public Theater’s youth program reach a significant milestone in their lives: high school graduation. With that, they officially “grow up,” and can no longer participate in the youth program. But before we wave them off to work, college, travel or massage school, they come together for their Senior Show.

Picked by and for the senior ensemble, the Senior Show represents the culmination of years of education and growth at SPT. The seniors involved have generally worked together many times, and the close-knit nature of the ensemble offers them – and Education Director Shana Bestock – the chance to create a truly magical show.

For staff at SPT, the Senior Show is a moment that is both proud and sad. We must let them out from under our wing, and send them off into the wide world. All of our students are incredibly talented, and will go on to do great things, but we will miss their presence at the Bathhouse!

This year’s Senior Show is Fuddy Meers. Written by American playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, Fuddy Meers is both hysterically funny and deeply heartbreaking. The story revolves around Claire, an amnesiac who wakes up every morning with a blank slate ala Drew Barrymore in 50 First Dates. One morning Claire is abducted and told her husband is trying to kill her. The mayhem which ensues is seen through Claire’s eyes with an ending proving everything is not always what it seems to be.

Director Shana Bestock said the following about working with the graduating seniors: “Rehearsals are the highlight of my day. It's a joy to work on this rich material with such vibrant, intelligent and powerfully connected young artists. I'm also continually blown away with how much of a shorthand we, as an ensemble, have developed. By the time they are seniors, these actors need very little direction from me.”

SPT Marketing Intern Katie Dolan talked to two of our departing seniors about their experiences:

Xandii Barber (Nova) has been at SPT since last October and says she has never found a place with people so nice and accepting. She estimated that at one point she spent about 25 hours a week at SPT during the school year. Xandii’s experience at SPT has included sound, stage managing, props, and assistant stage managing. She summed up her feelings towards SPT saying, “I get here and everything is okay.” Xandii says her time at SPT has prepared her well for college. She will attend Stephens College in Missouri to complete a 3-year stage management program.

Sasha Kool (University Prep) is another high school student who will leave many memories and friends at SPT. “It’s like a family,” she says. I asked Sasha to recall any standout moments in a performance or rehearsal that she will take with her. She started to laugh and explained how she was once playing an elderly woman in the play Enchanted April. Backstage she was hurrying to put more baby powder in her hair to make it gray. Mid-sprinkle she noticed an awful silence onstage—she had missed her entrance. The group she was supposed to enter with was already on stage. She heard them covering for her, querying about where she could have gone. Out of breath she entered from the wrong side justifying her tardiness by complaining about the hill she had to climb and reminding everyone of her advanced age. The audience was laughing and the improvised revision was a success.

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The 2010 Senior Show is Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay Abaire, directed by Shana Bestock.

The 2010 Senior Ensemble is Luke Greenway, Audrey Howell, Sasha Kool, Jessa Lowe, Kaitie Marshall, Rachel Warren, and Stage Manager Xandii Barber. The cast of Fuddy Meers also includes SPT alumni Miranda Sieg, a 2009 graduate.

Fuddy Meers opens Friday, July 2^nd at 7pm, and plays July 3^rd at 7pm, July 4^th at 2pm, July 9^th at 7pm, and July 10^th at 2pm and 7pm. Admission is free, with donations to the scholarship fund gratefully accepted. Tickets are first-come, first-served, beginning 30 minutes before showtime, with festival seating.