Essex High School Theater

2016 - 2021


An award-winning, daring ensemble-based youth theater company.

COMMIT. COLLABORATE. INNOVATE. COMPEL.


Between 2016 - 2021 I worked as the Drama Director for the co-curricular Theater program at Vermont’s 2nd largest high school.

During my tenure, participation in the program skyrocketed. We consistently sold out our 600-seat theater during production runs.

We hired a professional team of adults as creative mentors and collaborators, vaulting numerous students into design and creative fields post-graduation.

Our work was centered on generating ensemble movement and unique interpretations of the text. With the combination of distinctive dramaturgy, precise design, and courageous movement, we were awarded top honors at One-Act Festivals in the state and in the larger Northeastern Region, effectively influencing the caliber of youth work in the state and beyond.

“Full of surprise, energy, grandness, and at the quality of choreographers such as Pina Bausch.”

— Dr. A. Bean, Performance Studies Professor, Bennington College, on our production of A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls

Based on the novel by Patrick Ness
Script devised by Sally Cookson and The Company

Using only chairs & rope as our set, we told the story of a young boy’s reckoning with the slow dissolution of his mother’s health and the assumptions about what supports us and what binds us together.

With explosive ensemble movement, original music composition, and versatile physical characterizations, the ensemble builds and deconstructs entire worlds on stage as if a kinetic sculpture.

Made with a team of 41 students.

March 2020

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Set Design & Combat by Andy Butterfield

    Lighting Design by Saskia Giramma

    Original Music & Choral Composition by David Amouretti, Jacob Banicki, & Emma Blatt

    Costume Design by Abby Kolar, Tyler Ray, Julia Sartini, & Grace Arcovich

    Prop Design by Lydia Eldredge

    Lifts by Nicole Dirmaier

    Stage Management by Courtney Berscheid, Leslie Bostwick, & Olivia Toomey

    Technical Direction by Lex Page

    Photography by Owen Leavey & Lex Page

  • An ensemble of 22 young performers:

    Marcino Ambris, Kirsten Appenzeller, Faith Awotho, Ella Bradley, Ethan Brett, Lily Davis, Nicole Dirmaier, Bryan House, Bella Joly, Peter Jordan, Shannon Kelly, Owen Kupferer, Abby Lee, Eric Lu, Patrick Meskill, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mikaela Perrin, Anniella Pettingill, Ry Poulin, Maevis Small, Morgan Sutliff, Ella Weidman

    Light Board Operation by Carmella Degregorio & Meghan Finn

    Production Assistance by Nicole Agricola, Hiro Hayden, Nali Kuemerle

  • Northern Vermont Regional Champions, selected to perform at the Vermont State One-Act Festival, prior to nationwide cancellations of large gatherings due to COVID-19

Cry-Baby

Book by Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan
Songs by David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger

Based on the film by John Waters

With slapstick, camp, and extreme stakes, Cry-Baby offered an opportunity to present an edgy comedy. We resisted staging it as simply tongue-in-cheek, leaning heavily on the physical lives of the characters and their source material of commedia & drag.

Complete with a rig of swings and a real teenage rock band on stage for the duration of the show, we got to the heart of the matter: pure teenage angst and discovering sensuality in a world full of boxes and checkpoints.

Made with a team of 61 students.

November 2019

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Choreography by Rebecca Raskin

    Music Direction by Jennifer Greenwood

    Pit Direction by Mei Endo

    Set Design & Combat by Andy Butterfield

    Lighting Design by Saskia Giramma

    Costume Design by Annie Davis & Carmon Verasamy

    Prop Design by Lydia Eldredge & Natalie Morris

    Stage Management by Courtney Berscheid & Leslie Bostwick

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Photography by Jesse Keefe

  • An ensemble of 36 young performers:

    Grace Allard, Kirsten Appenzeller, Faith Awotho, Emma Blatt, Owen Bordelon, Ella Bradley, Joe Coulombe, Lily Davis, Nicole Dirmaier, Bryan House, Bella Joly, Peter Jordan, Shannon Kelly, Claire Knowles, Abby Kolar, Owen Kupferer, Kira Lawson, Abby Lee, Cassie Libby, Eric Lu, Lily Merchant, Patrick Meskill, Elizabeth Mitchell, Honoka Mori, Mikaela Perrin, Anniella Pettingill, Ry Poulin, Noah Sanderson, Anneka Shepherd, Maevis Small, Morgan Sutliff, Jordan Verasamy, Naomi Walters, Ella Weidman, Shayla Winer, Emmalyn Zeppi

    Light Board Operation by Carmella DeGregorio

    Sound Technicians Madi Drew

    Production Assistance by Nicole Agricola, Megan Ahern, Grace Arcovitch, Gemma Bilodeau, Ethan Brett, Evan Cadmus, Erin Chafee, Hiro Hayden, Nali Kuemerle, Tyler Ray, Julia Sartini, Caroline Smith, Clarity Streeter, Olivia Toomey

  • David Amouretti, Hazel Dority, Jacob Banicki, Nolan Boerger, Henry Wu

“Simply masterful. The use of chorus, vocalization, makeup, lighting, live music, moving platforms, and perfect stage movement…Spellbinding. A mesmerizing piece of theater.”

— Steve Stettler, former Artistic Director of Weston Theater Company, on our production of Frankenstein

Frankenstein

An adaptation by Matt Lee & Maryland Ensemble Theater
Based on the book by Mary Shelley

In our award-winning traveling production of Frankenstein, we needed a set that was portable and flexible but would still achieve the gothic atmosphere of Shelley’s cautionary tale of playing God. We created a cadre of reflective self-lit tables that created a labrynthian collection of corners and cavities.

Drawing upon the themes of mirroring between Victor and the Creature and Victor’s fiancé vs. his paramour, our ensemble generated a set of movement cadences that increasingly became more and more pliable and violent. This production leaned heavily on the tradition of sci-fi and horror and subsequently required a heightened emotional truth from the young performers paired with daring physicality and trust for the combat sequences.

Made with a team of 44 students.

March - May 2019

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Set Design & Stage Violence by Andy Butterfield

    Lighting Design by Felix Clarke

    Original Music & Choral Composition by David Amouretti, Jacob Banicki, & Emma Blatt, Isabella Dunn, & Henry Wu

    Costume Design by Munroe Shearer

    Prop Design by Lydia Eldredge

    Stage Management by Courtney Berscheid & Shayla Winer

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Assistant Technical Direction by Isaak Olsen & Lex Page

    Photography by Owen Leavey & Emma Brott

  • An ensemble of 22 young performers:

    Kirsten Appenzeller, Faith Awotho, Emma Blatt, Ella Bradley, Joseph Coulombe, Nicole Dirmaier, Isabella Dunn, Bryan House, Bella Joly, Peter Jordan, Shannon Kelly, Owen Kupferer, Eric Lu, Lily Merchant, Patrick Meskill, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mikaela Perrin, Olivia Ploof, Ry Poulin, Maevis Small, Hunter Tether, Matthew Tupaj, Emmalyn Zeppi

    Spot Operation by Carmella Degregorio & Erin Chaffee

    Makeup Design by Evey Duval

    Production Assistance by Nicole Agricola, Grace Arcovitch, Leslie Bostwick, Madi Drew, Hiro Hayden, Abby Kolar, Nali Kuemerle, Tyler Ray, Julia Sartini

  • New England Drama Festival Best Ensemble Award, Rhode Island

    Vermont State Champions

    Northern Vermont Regional Champions

Big Fish

Book by John August
Lyrics and Composition by Andrew Lippa

Based on the book by Daniel Wallace

What stories do we tell of our lives, and how do we inherit the kernel of truth in these tales, no matter the scale of hyperbole? In this family story, a father and son reckon with the gulf between reality and fantasy.

With an over-the-top amount of scenic changes, our production relied on a flexible and transforming army of set pieces, complete with trap doors & false walls. For the iconic daffodil scene, we rained daffodil petals onto the stage in a romantic flurry of yellow. Pair this with acrobatic fight sequences, smoke, stilts, and a nearly full house on stage, Big Fish required a joyful embrace of the absurd and beauty in the everyday.

Made with a team of 76 students.

November 2018

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Choreography by Rebecca Raskin

    Music Direction by Jennifer Greenwood

    Pit Direction by Heather Finlayson

    Set Design & Combat by Andy Butterfield

    Set Construction by Karen Walkerman

    Lighting Design by Jamien Forrest

    Costume Design by Emily Thibodeau & Annie Davis

    Prop Design by Lydia Eldredge & Natalie Morris

    Stage Management by Matthew Tupaj & Courtney Berscheid

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Makeup Design by Izzy Serebrov

    Photography by Jaskanwar Batra & Emma Brott

  • An ensemble of 43 young performers:

    Nicole Agricola, Grace Allard, Kirsten Appenzeller, Faith Awotho, Shawn A. Baker, Jacob Banicki, Emma Blatt, Ella Bradley, Grace Brouillete, Evan Cadmus, Violet Corcoran, Joe Coulombe, Lily Davis, TJ DiDio, Bella Dunn, Evey DuVal, Eleanor Freebern, Taylor Hella, Bryan House, Peter Jordan, Abby Kolar, Avery Kupferer, Owen Kupferer, Eric Lu, Lily Merchant, Elizabeth Mitchell, Honoka Mori, Sydney Parent, Mikaela Perrin, Olivia Ploof, Ry Poulin, Jaylin Rae, Munroe Shearer, Isabella Silva, Maevis Small, Morgan Sutliff, Hunter Tether, Jordan Verasamy, Briar Walsh, Marin Walsh, Shayla Winer, Emmalyn Zeppi

    Dance Captain Nicole Dirmaier

    Light Board Operation by Felix Clarke

    Spot Operation by Natasha Ticharwa & Nicola Duffy

    Sound Technicians Lex Page & madi Drew

    Production Assistance by Grace Arcovitch, Gemma Bilodeau, Leslie Bostwick, Erin Chaffee, Micaela Clapp, Sam Frenette, Hiro Hayden, Shannon Kelly, Raquel Mattos, Tyler Ray, Julia Sartini, Gabby Shedyak, Caroline Smith, Scarlet Wagner

  • David Amouretti, Jess Beliveau, Hazel Dority, Emily Gonyeau, Grace Lu, Isabelle Petrucci, Anthony Risvanov, Grace Stammelman, Henry Wu

“Intricate, complex, purposeful, intriguing, and beautiful. A total theatrical vision.”

— Bill Vinton, former VT representative at New England Drama Festival, on our production of Three Kinds of Wildness

Three Kinds of Wildness

By Donna Oblongata

For our traveling production, we used a cavalcade of rolling ladders and planks in order to construct the underground world of Wildness. In a world reckoning with the vast gulfs between understanding one another, we utilized haunting original choral compositions for the mushroom ensemble, self-illuminated objects, and deep physical comedy.

Three Kinds of Wildness relied on serious play within absurdism and clown technique. The central themes ask how we communicate across divides (intra-species, intra-human, intra-element).

In our production, called by Amanda DeCarlo from the festival panel “a visual feast, produced flawlessly",” we matched the tragicomedy of a melting and unstable world to that of the yearning to connect with one another, underscored by a marching punk band. At one point, a young performer translates the language of a mushroom: in this case, we incorporated an exchange student in the cast to translate Mandarin to English in real-time.

Made with 31 students.

March - April 2018

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Set Design by Andy Butterfield

    Lighting Design by Jamien Lundy Forrest

    Original Music & Choral Composition by Tommy Bergeron

    Costume Design by Munroe Shearer

    Makeup Design by Izzy Serebrov

    Stage Management by Wren House & Laura Printon

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Assistant Technical Direction by Isaak Olson

    Assistant Direction by Shawn A. Baker

    Production Management by Kathryn Daniels

    Photography by Keri Anne Lesure

  • An ensemble of 16 young performers:

    Jenna Agricola, Nicole Agricola, Kirsten Appenzeller, Lauren Boerger, Ella Bradley, Coco Chen, Liam Dixon, Bella Dunn, Lily Merchant, Sosenna Palmer, Mikaela Perrin, Ry Poulin, Jaylin Rae, Matt Tupaj, Eric Wakim, Ingrid Zinger

    Spot Operation by Felix Clarke

    Production Assistance by Carolyn Colteryahn, Donovan Garcia-Buckler, Peter Jordan, Tyler Ray, Ella Rice, Julia Sartini

  • Northern Vermont Regional Champions

Les Misérables

Book by Alain Boubil & Jean-Marc Natel
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg

Based on novel by Victor Hugo

We set our Les Misérables in a blended modern age, taking the trials of Valjean, Javert, and the vast interconnected stories into an updated (not nostalgic) rendering. At its core, Les Mis is a story of endurance; resilience; dreaming; ascendency; and it demands those very same things from those who wish to produce it. By switching the framework of the piece into current contexts, students could study and embody resistance narratives that felt practical, useful, and relevant to their everyday lives.

Utilizing a transformable set full of metaphor and simplicity countered the distracting lushness typically attributed to productions of Les Mis. The minimalist starkness matched with the barricade’s heightened theatrical devices such as confetti guns and smoke barrels helped illuminate the contrasts throughout the show between shame, passion for political ideals, fire of first desire, and the soul’s aching search for peace.

Made with 70 students.

November 2017

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Choreography by Kim Nowlan Hathaway

    Music Direction by Randal Pierce

    Pit Direction by Heather Finlayson

    Set/Prop Design & Combat by Andy Butterfield

    Set Engineering by Karen Walkerman

    Lighting Design by Jamien Lundy Forrest

    Costume Design by Annie Davis & Munroe Shearer

    Stage Management by Kathryn Daniels & Emma Bemis

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Photography by Jaskanwar Batra

  • An ensemble of 39 young performers:

    Nicole Agricola, Jenna Agricola, Riley Allen, Kirsten Appenzeller, Shawn A. Baker, Renee Bamford, Lauren Boerger, Ella Bradley, Joe Coulombe, Grace Brouillette, Felix Clarke, Joe Coulombe, Violet Corcoran, Bella Dunn, Adele Freebern, Eleanor Freebern, Anna Jacobs, Peter Jordan, Owen Kupferer, Eric Lu, Lily Merchant, Elizabeth Mitchell, Sosenna Palmer, Isabella Patterson, Meredith Payson, Mikaela Perrin, Olivia Ploof, Ry Poulin, Jaylin Rae, Ella Rice, Izzy Serebrov, Hunter Tether, Jonathan Tupaj, Matthew Tupaj, Jordan Verasamy, Eric Wakim, Shayla Winer, Emmalyn Zeppi, Ingrid Zinger

    Light Board Operation by Isaak Olson

    Production Assistance by David Amouretti, Grace Arcovitch, Maria Campo, Michaela Compo, Lily Davis, Willow Desjardins, Evey DuVal, Donovan Garcia-Buckler, Emily Gonyeau, Claire Knowles, Wren House, Faith Ploof, Laura Printon, Julia Sartini, Hadley Swainbank, Tyler Ray

  • Mary Bauer, Noah Beckage, Jess Beliveau, Nolan Boerger, Nic Cannizzaro, Ginny Churchill, Rachel Conner, Mei Endo, Mia Fritze, Alex Gordon, Grace Lu, Joni McCraw, Christian Pickwell, Isabelle Petrucci, Bryan Stammelman, Jane Suryanata, Tom Whitney, Henry Wu

The Boy at the Edge of Everything

By Finegan Kruckemeyer

A cross-universe meet-cute with floating objects, vast collections, and the question of permanence in a quickly-changing world.

The perspective of Boy is a youthful exuberance reckoning with the first experience of existential ennui. Our transportable set involved chalkboards and a house on wheels that unfolded from itself to reveal vast universes of possibility. Through object manipulation, making/erasing, and ensemble choreography, Boy stole the hearts of festival audiences with its audacious simplicity within complexity.

Made with 24 students

March - May 2017

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Set Design by Andy Butterfield

    Set Engineering by Karen Walkerman

    Lighting Design by Jamien Lundy Forrest

    Costume Design by Audrey Wilbur & Munroe Shearer

    Assistant Directoion by Kiara Zambrano

    Stage Management by Kathryn Daniels

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

  • An ensemble of 11 young performers:

    Jenna Agricola, Hannah Baker, Shawn A. Baker, Margaret Barch, Shanti Boyle, Caleb Dudley, Lauren Johnson, Ian Lyle, Sosenna Palmer, Eric Wakim, Kiara Zambrano

    Foley Technicians Megan Taufine, Taylor Wieland, Ingrid Zinger

    Light Board Operation by Felix Clarke

    Production Assistance by Ella Rice, Erik Nyhagen, Gina Russin, Isaak Olson, Ry Poulin, Wren House

  • New England Drama Festival Best Ensemble Award, Massachusetts

    Vermont State Champions

    Northern Vermont Regional Champions

Urinetown

Book and lyrics by Greg Kotis
Music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann

We set this dark political musical farce in a dusty Western apocalypse rather than the more traditional New York City “Gotham.” In a parched and steam-punk-influenced world, we explored how collection, exploitation, and hoarding of resources come to play within satire.

Made with 63 students

November 2016

  • Directed by Aly Perry

    Choreography by Brad Enos

    Music Direction by Nicholas Stokes

    Pit Direction by Heather Finlayson

    Set Design & Combat by Andy Butterfield

    Set Engineering by Karen Walkerman

    Lighting Design by Jamien Lundy Forrest

    Costume Design by Molly Mara

    Stage Management by Donovan Garcia-Buckler & Hannah Gariety

    Technical Direction by Evan Cope

    Photography by Jaskanwar Batra

  • An ensemble of 33 young performers:

    Jenna Agricola, Hannah Baker, Shawn A. Baker, Margaret Barch, Tommy Bergeron, Lauren Boerger, Emily Boisvert, Shanti Boyle, Ella Bradley, Caleb Dudley, Amanda Dunbar, Bella Dunn, Keegan Fitzgerald, Laura Jaime, Lauren Johnson, Aspen Lavalee, Elizabeth Mitchell, Sosenna Palmer, Meredith Payson, Olivia Ploof, Ry Poulin, Jaylin Rae, Ella Rice, Gina Russin, Colin Seiler, Izzy Serebrov, Munroe Shearer, Matthew Tupaj, Eric Wakim, Audrey Wilbur, Kiara Zambrano, Emmalyn Zeppi, Ingrid Zinger

    Light Board Operation by Jacob Boulet & Isaak Olson

    Sound Technicians Ben Sprenger & Jordan Van Wilde

    Production Assistance by Emma Bemis, Noah Bonning, Felix Clarke, Mars Doubleday, Allura Garcia-Buckler, Kathryn Daniels, Lily Davis, Kameron Fleming, Wren House, Sasha Hunt, Avery Kupferer, Rebecca Marriott, Isabella Patterson, Alyssa Perkins, Laura Printon, Hannah Rouleau, Caroline Smith, Madison Spina, Christi Tassie, Sidney Thompson, Taylor Wieland

  • Ben Centracchio, Neil Hutcheon, Ben King, Emma Pearson, Ryan Wolbach