Sparta High School Proudly Presents... By Juleanna Green

“Stay Gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.”

• S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Many people know these famous words from S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders. It’s the story of a young American, Ponyboy, who grew up on “the wrong side of town.” He was a Greaser- the poor, greasy-haired community opposite the Socs- the wealthy, well-to-do community. The novel is told in Ponyboy’s point of view, as he recalls the troublesome events that follow him and his friends.

What many people don’t know, is that Sparta High School is putting on a theatrical performance of The Outsiders this fall. Double-casted (two different casts) with three performances each, the cast and crew have been hard at work to make this a worthy production. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to some of the cast members (being in one of the casts myself), about their feelings about, thoughts on, and relationship with this play.

¨We all read the book,” began Jamie Corter, who plays Cherry in the performance. ¨And we all kind of have our own interpretation of what the book was, and now you can visually see it.¨ Many of the other cast members present agreed. ¨When you’re reading it,” added Kaela Panicucci, who plays Darry, ¨you get to connect with the characters, and then as a play you get to become the characters, and it just strengthens the connection you have with the text.¨

Speaking of connections between the book and the stage adaptation, everyone came to the same conclusion; you have to play these characters as they are already known. Corter even said, ¨People know these characters so well that you have to play them like people know them… When we did Stage Door, I could take any interpretation I wanted on my character, because no one knew who it was. But with [The Laramie Project] and this, people know. In Laramie, they were real people, so you had to be that person. But with this one, they could very well just be people we know, because people know them so well.¨

I asked the actors how they got into their characters (and how they relate to them in their own lives), to which Claire Riley responded, ¨I have the face of a horse¨ (she plays Ponyboy). She did then go on with a more intimate and personal response, saying that, ¨They're not that different from kids today, you can see the relationships that they have and the friendship that they share, even through all the tough times that they go through, and that's always gonna happen. You’re always gonna have those people in your life that you can lean on and depend on even through tragedies.¨

“Yeah, like I’ve never been in a gang before,” added Steven Sullivan, who also portrays Ponyboy, in the cast opposite of Riley’s. “But I have had a close group of friends and based on the relationship the Greasers have I’d say that that’s pretty similar.” And I think that goes to show just how much people do appreciate the story of Ponyboy and his friends. Even if you’ve never been in a gang, or if you’ve never been wrapped up in a murder, or if you don’t use the exact same vernacular (which most of us don’t), you can understand the value of friendship and family, and appreciate how they come to light in this book. You can connect to the characters and (some) of the issues they face everyday.

“When we read the book we didn’t really know that we were going to be performing it,” commented Henry Silberstein, who plays Dallas. “For some of us it’s been, however many years. So it’s kinda cool from your growth, from reading it to now, and also seeing the movie.” Because Sparta students read The Outsiders in their 7th grade year, it has been awhile since most of the cast has read it. However, that is why one of our casts will have the opportunity to perform the show for the current 7th grade students (because those students are reading it this year). On the same day, November 2, 2016, the other cast will be performing immediately after school for all staff members, to make it easier for them to attend.

¨Do it,¨ said Nina Strowe, who plays Randy, when asked what she would say to people to get them to come see the show. “This has been my favorite show to perform,” said Panicucci. “I second that notion,” replied Corter. According to Sullivan, “There’s not a dull moment.” So whether you loved the book, hated the book, or just don’t remember the book, come and see this fantastic show!

The performances of The Outsiders for the public will be on Thursday, November 3 at 7:00pm, Friday, November 4 at 7:00pm, and two shows on Saturday, November 5 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. The cast is as follows: Steven Sullivan, Claire Riley, Sofia Cook, Isabelle Baptista, Henry Silberstein, Tomas Torres, Jamie Corter, Sofie Mase, Will Maloney, Lorenzo Rendina, Kaela Panicucci, Elizabeth Bottoni, Nina Strowe, Julia Miller, Josiah Sutton, Heather DiPiano, James Wang, Aaron Lopez, Brittany Galvin, Sylvia Kloian, Taylor Muse, Noelle Vallario, Lauren Spinetta, Christian Cuadrado, Juleanna Green, Sarah Pineau, Emma Rust, Ron Jilla, Taylor Brady, Brianna Murphy, Natalie Strouse, Alex Schuessler, Lomaani Ranasinghe, and Vida Codjoe.