‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ brings diversity to the theater

Hunchback+cast+greets+the+audience+-Elizabeth+McIntyre

Hunchback cast greets the audience -Elizabeth McIntyre

Elizabeth McIntyre, Staff Reporter

 

I feel like I should have been able to kill somebody before the play ended.

— Courtney Hawkins

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” took Tracy High students from different social groups and put them in a shared environment.

Leticia Cavlan, a junior, played Esmeralda, a street dancer; Dave Money, a junior, played Quasimodo, the literal hunchback of Notre Dame; Courtney Hawkins, a senior, acted as Captain Phoebus of the kings royal artillery, and Joseph Wheatley, a sophomore, played antagonist Claude Frollo.

Stephanie Rheinheimer acted as stage manager.

“Basically, my job was to be the right hand man to the director. I kept everyone on track, worked with them on their acting, and fixed any problems that came up,” Reinheimer said.

All of the main characters are known as athletes at Tracy High; Cavlan for cross-country, Wheatley for track and field, and Hawkins and Money for football.

The different cliques were integrated into one social party and made the performance interesting. “The play was fun because it was a lot of different people with a lot of different personalities,” Hawkins said.

Wheatley is the only one of the main characters to be part of a cast at Tracy High previously.

The experience was new for most of the actors.

“That was the first play that I have been a part of,” Money said.

“I’ve never really hung out with anime people or people that were into different stuff,” Money said.

“All the people I hang out with are kind of the same. The play was different, the cast was really diverse,” Hawkins said.

The actors spoke highly of one another. “Lety is a great actor, I hope I get to work with her again,” Money said.

The cast got along well with each-other. “We all went out to eat after performances, like a family,” Wheatley said.

Each of the actors felt a connection with their characters. “The character that I played is a very cocky person and I can be cocky at times,” Hawkins said.

The performance of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was a great representation of what it is like to work with students at Tracy High.

“It was a lot of work, but the overall product of [the casts’] dedication was worth it,” director and teacher in charge Ellen DiFilippo said.

“It was cool seeing how different people are, how they react in different situations, and how they can transform what they really want to do into a play,” Hawkins said.