Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart and Boston College High School will takeThe Fifth Sun by Nicholas Patricca to the 2012 Preliminary Competition of the Massachusetts State Drama Festival. This year marks the first time the schools have paired with each other to enter the competition as a single drama team. Newton Country Day and B.C. High both were semifinalists in the 2011 State Drama Festival.The Fifth Sunis directed by Mr. Adrian Hernandez, English teacher at B.C. High, and produced by Ms. Valerie Young, Chair of the English Department at Newton Country Day. The dual-school drama team will compete in the preliminary round at St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers on Saturday, March 3rd against seven other drama teams: Austin Prep, Danvers High School, Triton Regional High School, St. John’s, Lynn English, The Clark School, and St. Mary’s in Lynn.
Patricca, professor emeritus in the Theatre Department at Loyola University, Chicago, uses ancient Mayan traditions and medieval morality plays as the backdrop of his contemporary one-act play set in El Salvador, at the outbreak of what would be a decades-long civil war. There are five suns in the Mayan tradition: cultivation, rain, life, death, and, the fifth sun – a human being whose destiny is to save his people.The Fifth Sun dramatizes the life and the assassination of the archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, while he was saying Mass on March 24, 1980. The play weaves Mayan and Catholic rituals and imagery in a powerful portrayal of how the forces and the people of El Salvador transformed Archbishop Romeo from an ordinary man into a champion of the poor and the clergy.
M. Middleton ’14 of B.C. High will star as Oscar Romero. Newton Country Day students starring in The Fifth Sun are E. Corcoran ’13 (Guardian of the East), A. Ryan ’12 (Guardian of the South), E. Foley ’13 (Guardian of the West), C. Gallo ’14 (Guardian of the North), S. Fox ’13 (Anne Dunn), and M. Tran ’12 (Congresswoman).
In addition to M. Middleton ’14, B.C. High student performers are: A. Bailey ’13 (Nuncio), J. Frazer ’13 (Hector Navarez), J. Serio ’14 (Rutilio Grande), P. Connolly ’13 (Colonel), N. Guevin ’14 (Manuel), and M. Gustafson ’14 and J. Trebika ’12 (Congressmen).
Portraying the people of El Salvador are: Organizers A. Fox ’15 and A. Pickard ’15, E. Corcoran ’13, and M. Tran ’12 of Newton Country Day; and K. Hereida ’14, M. Gustafson ’14, and Z. Strecker ’13 of B.C. High.
The Massachusetts High School Drama Festival had its origin in 1928. One-hundred and eleven teams are entering this year’s preliminary round productions in 14 high school venues across the state. The Preliminary competitions are open to the public. Tickets are $10.
Best wishes to the Newton Country Day and Boston College High School Drama Festival Team!