Local high schools perform tonight

Bloomington High School North and South will combine their dramatic talents this weekend to perform Jean Giradoux's classic play, "The Madwoman of Chaillot." The students will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, Saturday, Jan. 24 and Sunday, Jan. 25 at The John Waldron Arts Center at 122 S. Walnut St.\nIn "The Madwoman of Chaillot," corporate evil invades majestic Paris as prospectors plot to tear up its legendary streets for oil and wealth. \nCountess Aurelia, the madwoman, holds a unique tea party for her friends and through their comedic conversation, figures out how to save their world from commercial greed and immorality. \nCatherine Rademacher, producer of the play, and the drama instructor for Bloomington South, described the play as a poetic and comic fable as timely today as it was when it premiered in 1947. \n"You've got this Texan who's looking for oil in Paris. It's like, gee, who could that be," Rademacher said. "The sad thing is that we haven't learned our lesson."\nRademacher said the play's language is dense and meaningful.\n"Every time I watch it, I find something new and fascinating about it," Rademacher said. "That's good theater."\nFrancesca Sobrer, director and the drama instructor for Bloomington North, said her cast of high school students aptly met the challenge of Giradoux's complex script. \n"The play requires its actors to be very smart because of the way it is written," Sobrer said. "Some of the actors have three to four pages of uninterrupted monologue and they pull it off. I was riveted." \nAnna Ardizzone, a junior at Bloomington South, has the lead role of Countess Aurelia, the madwoman. She said she enjoyed being in the play because the story had both funny and serious parts.\n"While my character is insane, a lot of what she says makes sense and is serious," Ardizzone said. "You can relate it to things that are happening today."\nIn the madwoman's quest to stop the prospectors, many hilarious conversations and antics ensue. Sobrer said she is partial to the funny parts of the play. \n"The tea party that these women have has got to be one of the most hysterical conversations I've ever heard," Sobrer said.\nThis production is the second combined effort of Bloomington's two high schools. The first attempt occurred in 2001 when Sobrer and Rademacher directed Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing!" and "Waiting for Lefty." \n"It was a great success on so many levels, so we always said we'd do it again," Sobrer said. "It's always a challenge because my kids at North are used to me and the South kids are used to Rademacher." \nRademacher said combining the two schools is a great experience for the students because they get to work in a different environment and branch out. \n"I've met so many people, and I'm just in awe of the talent that I've met," said Bloomington North senior Grace Rex who plays Irma, an idealistic young waitress who works at the café where the madwoman holds her tea party. "I've made a lot of new friends."\nRex said while she was at first skeptical about the small amount of seating at the Waldron Arts Center, she has found having a small audience at stage level lends more energy to the performance because there is closer interaction with the audience. She said she also liked having the play at the Waldron Arts Center because it attracts a diverse group from the community instead of just the relatives and classmates usually drawn to high school productions.\n"Madwoman of Chaillot" debuted last weekend. Kaira Hogle, who runs the school performance program at the Waldron Arts Center, said the performance has been very well received so far.\n"It's a very difficult play to pull off because of its political overtones," Hogle said. "It's very impressive for a high school to take this on, and they've done a terrific job with it." \n-- Contact staff writer Jenica Schultz at jwschult@indiana.edu.