The Millstone Times June 2022

ATTENTION ONE AND ALL!! Folks, we have just finished MMS's 2nd production by the Eagles Production Drama Club from this year! The Day The Internet Died, A Short Comedy by Ian McWethy and Jason Pizzarello!

Everyone lives off of the internet right? We use it for everything in our everyday lives! Research, Online Shopping, Social Media, Mobile Games, Texting, etc.! But what if…it goes out….for a week?! DUN DUN DUNNN- What will the citizens of Bloomington do without their precious internet? They’ll do tons of things-in each of our scenarios, they’ll get into lots of comical situations where they try to involve the internet in things that you won’t be able to use it for! This was our most com ical production of this year! Which had the whole crowd laughing! :D What truly made this play very special to all of us, was that it was run by students (with the guid ance of Mrs. Cappozzo and Mrs Dotsey!) Yes! You heard me! Students! We have our lovely Directors Bee Shields (Grade 7) and Zee DeCaro (Grade 6). Awesome Stage Managers Brendan DeRose(Grade 8) and Natalie Robbin (Grade 6). Our astonishing Production Leaders are Jordan Rudolph (Grade 8 - Costumes), Olivia Conklin (Grade 6 - Props), Giuliana George (Grade 6 - Scenery), Harry Biello (Grade 7 -Lighting/Sound/ Projections), Kayleigh Meagher (Grade 7-Choreography), Reese Appel (Grade 6-[Photography/ Playbill), and our team of 10 writers who wrote a few added scenes of their own making! Even a student wrote this very Press Release (me! Jemma Kaufman! :] ) Did you know that this play consisted of more than 40 students from 6th, 7th, AND 8th grade?!

Sarah Monteiro, Olivia Conklin, Mrs. Cappuzzo, Saanvi Dubal, Zee DeCaro, Natalie Robbin, Mrs Dotsey, Jemma Kaufman, Brendan DeRose, Gargi Patel, Kyra Ahuja, Jordan Rudolph, Faye Harritas, Layla Greenleaf (photo taken by Reese Appel)

Makenzie Knutson(Grade 7) talked about what it was like being one of the leaders “It was really cool to work with my team and guide them through the process of how to create a cool lobby display and get publicity for the play.” She even talks about her own experience with it! “I think this is a great learn ing experience and a great way to learn how to manage a crew, while having an on stage, and personal life. If I could join the play again I would totally do that - and maybe as director - because after being in a leadership position, I learned I like being able to take charge and guide others, on or off stage.” Reese Appel chatted about how she felt about leading her crew “It was very interesting and it was hard to lead a crew because there are a lot of things to handle all at once. I wouldn't say I had to teach my crew - we all collaborated. I didn't have to do all the work, and it's a thing I normally have to do with all my projects at school. I think it was interesting and it was hard to gather information for everything. I give major props to Mrs. Cappuzzo because I didn’t know how hard it was to begin with.” Jill Fried spoke about her experience with acting and her thoughts about it “I hadn't done acting before but I have done dance recitals. This was my first acting performance and I was very excited. I think it was cool because I wanted to act, but I love photography. Even though wasn’t the one taking pictures, it was good to chip in. Since I'm only in a few scenes, I had the rest of the time to work with the crew.” Julian Blanco gave his speech on how he loved his stage crew. “Working on stage crew was a fun experience. We came up with a bunch of ideas and talked to the group about them. And we got to see it on stage. We took inspiration from each other and came up with ideas together like a team.” Joey Blythe talked about her love for photography and acting! “ I thought it was fun because I got to do two things at once - acting and doing photogra phy and playbil - learning how to handle both things at the same time. I think it's great and would like to do it next year. I think we all worked together pretty nicely. We all shared our individual ideas and tried to combine them together. I think this was a very nice play and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to join next year and anyone who wants to join it” One of our own directors, Zee DeCaro, gave their perspective on what being a director was like! “Being a director was great. It has gave me so much creative freedom, as well as taught me responsibility, not only for mysel,f but also for everyone around me.” Co-Director, Bee Shields (Grade 7) said, “I’ve always enjoyed seeing how people perform plays in many different ways. I acted on the stage before and I enjoyed acting, but I also wanted to see some of the things that go on backstage.” According to Bee, the most exciting part of directing was “Seeing it all come together - some of the ideas I have had actually going onto the stage. For example, in the scene titled “Swipe”, I didn’t know how to have so many people on stage, but I really liked the diamond idea I came up with. I think it worked!” Mrs.Dotesy (Assistant Drama Advisor) gave her point of view on what she thought of this production in general “Well it's been really interesting seeing students take on the roles that normally Mrs.Cappuzzo and I took care of.” She continued about the students, “ It was also particularly uplifting to see students taking on more leadership roles and responsibility. There seemed to be growing enthusiasm for the show because it was not something Mrs. Cappuzzo created. It’s something they created and their own. That’s not something you see in Middle Schools, and as teachers it makes us very proud.” She also commented on how she loved seeing the love for theater grow and how it's ironic they did a show about the internet dying after we all came out of a time where we relied on the internet so heavily. As well as Drama Advisor, Mrs. Cappuzzo gave her thoughts on the production “It was exciting to have had so many students working on this. It was so much fun to see their creative ideas brought to life on stage.” She also commented about working with the 8th graders. “It is always so hard to say goodbye to our eighth graders, because I’ve worked with some of them since first grade! But it doesn’t matter if it’s their first show or their tenth, they will always be a part of Eagle Productions, and this will always be their home.” Lastly, she talked about what she thinks about the roles that everyone was given! “I think everybody was very well suited for their roles, but even more important than that, they made the roles their own.” We were all truly happy to get this play out, because of this, we have another memory to look back at–of The Day the Internet Died :) The Day the Internet Died is produced by special arrangement with Stage Partners. www.yourstagepartners.com

16 The Millstone Times

June 2022