Exeter High School drama club brings ‘Tuck Everlasting’ to the stage
EXETER — Stepping onto the stage this weekend in Exeter High School’s performance of “Tuck Everlasting” is the perfect end to Jack Curtis’ high school theater career.
“I was in the musical freshman year but that got shut down because of COVID. It was a huge gut blow freshman year when COVID shut everything down,” Curtis, a senior from Exeter said. “I don’t necessarily want to pursue theater when I grow up, but I love it as a hobby because it’s this space where you can be yourself no matter who you are.”
Curtis portrays the Man in the Yellow Suit in the high school spring theater production, which premieres Friday night at 7 p.m., with a second 7 p.m. show on Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets are available at the door. Students have been rehearsing since January.
“This is a show that not a lot of folks know because it didn’t have an epic run on Broadway, so for many of the students auditioning for the show was their first introduction to the music,” said Joel Iwaskiewicz, an English teacher who is also the director of the play. “It’s a show that’s hopeful. It’s a show that contemplates living in the moment and cherishing the joys and gifts of having something that doesn’t last forever. And realizing the letting go is part of what makes us cherish the things we have.”
Based on the novel by Natalie Babbitt, “Tuck Everlasting” tells a story about immortality through its protagonist, Winnie Foster, a 10-year-old girl, who wants to discover what lies beyond the fence around her home. After sneaking off into the forest, she meets Jesse Tuck, whose family has become immortal after drinking from a spring in the woods.
Curtis’ character has been looking for that spring for a very long time.
“Pure ambition,” Curtis said when asked to describe his character. “He’s very driven by this one idea. He’s been trying to find this spring his entire life and now he’s finally very close to getting it. And he becomes very ambitious to a fault.”
When trying to get into the mindset of his character, Curtis thinks about what if “There was something you were pursuing your entire life and it was just there. How would I try to get it? I can almost understand it in a weird way.”
Freshman Caroline Powley, of Exeter, was cast as the musical’s lead Winnie Foster.
“I like how curious and youthful and fun she is,” Powley said of her character. “She’s an only child and her father recently died. She’s bored of just staying in the house. She’s really obedient to start, but I think she reaches a point where she’s like, I have to get out of here and she leaves.”
This is Powley’s second performance at the high school, and she acknowledged that being in a main role comes with a lot of emotions. “It’s really fun, it’s really surreal,” she said. “This is my first huge leading role and it’s a lot of pressure but I’m really excited.”
Aaron Faria, a sophomore from Exeter, who was cast as Angus Tuck, has been involved with theater since the age of 7 when he was in a production of “Cinderella” with the Pine Street Players in Exeter. The theater community kept him coming back.
“I really loved the people I was in the cast with and how everybody was kind. I’d never really experienced that before,” Faria said.
Faria describes Angus Tuck as a lazy dad who has no other reason for living than to sit in a chair and sleep. “I have to act very tired, depressed, sad,” he said.
Colby Baker, a new assistant principal at the school, is a former high school music teacher. Baker is enjoying playing piano with the orchestra for this show. “I can’t not be part of it,” Baker said of theater. “I have to be connected somehow.”
Annie Gorman, a junior from Stratham, who was cast as Miles Tuck, regularly performs in several local theater companies, including Pine Street Players, and the Palace Theater in Manchester. “I’m in three shows right now. I feel like when I have more going on it's easier to get stuff done and organized,” she said.
The character of Miles Tuck is different from anything she’s done before. “I’ve never played a man before,” she said.
“I feel like in a way, he contrasts a lot of the other characters because this is a very uplifting show, and this character is not necessarily the most hopeful. They live forever and it has affected him the most and has caused him to lose people in his life. So, he’s not very happy about that.”
Esme King-Farbstein, a junior from Exeter, portrays Mae Tuck, the atypical mother of the family. “She’s not your average mother, she’s fun. She drank the water, so even though she’s really old, she has this really fun, high spirit and she’s one of the most hopeful members of the Tuck family even though she has a lot that she’s carrying,” King-Farbstein said. “I tend to like to play the more sassy, fun, kind of characters.”
Breanne Daley, a sophomore from Stratham, plays Jesse Tuck, the youngest brother of the family.
“I think Jesse’s a unique character in the sense that he’s easy to lean into,” Daley said. “I think a lot of people have that youthful energy and joy inside of them; it’s so cool to be able to be playful with how I act.”
Daley can’t wait for Friday’s opening night. “Opening night is definitely scary, but it’s so rewarding. I find opening night the most adrenaline and serotonin boost you could ever have,” she said. “I’m so excited for everyone to see all the work that went into it and enjoy the magic.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter High School drama club presents ‘Tuck Everlasting’
