For students who were looking forward to attending Cardozo’s spring production, they were devastated to learn that the show was abruptly cancelled for this year due to some unforeseen circumstances.
Theater is a staple in any high school setting and over the past few years, it has reacclimatized into Cardozo’s school environment, thanks to dean and English teacher, Mrs. Depalo. She put on a version of “Alice in Wonderland” on the football field when the school’s auditorium was under construction, and last year produced “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Both productions engaged the school community with the theater program at Cardozo and brought back excitement surrounding school plays.
This year, students were excited for the highly anticipated production of “Dracula: a Comedy of Terrors,” with many trying out for roles. However, the play, which was supposed to take stage in mid-March, was abruptly cancelled due to some circumstances.
While not getting into specifics in order to protect the privacy and security of her cast and crew members, Mrs. Depalo shared that the decision to cancel the show was “heartbreaking.”
“I think it was multiple things…we had casting rearrangements that we had to do for different reasons,” she explained. “But, there was also the idea of rehearsing once a week and not having the full cast there all the time, it’s just not enough time to put on a full length, large scale production.”
Despite the sadness surrounding the cancellation of the show, Mrs. Depalo said that it’s “more important to focus on the present.”
“Things can happen that are out of your control,” she said. “We‘ve had two successful productions since reinstating the program, so moving forward will be based on looking more calculated and carefully at the dates that we pick and the students that are involved.” She explained that students who want to be involved in the stage performances must be able to commit to multiple days per week for rehearsals and help.
Some students who are part of the program were disappointed that the show was cancelled. “I feel very sad about the cancellation of the spring production because theater made me reach outside of my comfort zone,” junior Tyler Bernard said. “I want that chance for new students to the theater program and I feel bad they lost that chance.”
In addition, some seniors were looking forward to the show this spring as it would have been their last high school stage production. However, Mrs. Depalo said she isn’t going to give up and instead is going to work on something special for the seniors, or anyone else who wants to still participate in something this school year. One of her ideas is trying to plan a “night of scenes” so that it doesn’t require as much time and practice as a full length production.
However, juniors, sophomores, and freshmen will unfortunately have to wait until next school year for another full length production. The theater program is a group of dedicated, steadfast students with great talent and a willingness to put in the work. Despite the cancelled production, they are a family altogether, and that is what counts.
