The Albemarle High School Players brought the memory play “Elephant’s Graveyard” to the Virginia Theater Association (VTA) competition on Oct. 26, with a goal of captivating and emotionally touching their audience.
“Elephant’s Graveyard,” based on a true event in Erwin Tennessee, tells the tale of an elephant named Mary, though this character never appears on stage. The characters, however, create the memory of Mary and the arrival of Sparks’ World Famous Circus through their own unique perspectives. Mary the elephant was hanged for murdering a man, and each character from the town and circus have a different interpretation of what happened.
The cast and production have put months of time into perfecting their performance. “We spent a lot of time working out the timing and mood of certain scenes, trying to make the energy level of the show build up to the climax, rather than varying with individual actors,” senior Elizabeth Hillstrom said. Hillstrom plays the Engineer, a character that represents the Railroad and “the passage of time.” “We would go through a particular set of lines seven or eight times before Ms. Cunningham was satisfied with it.”
Director Fay Cunningham said she picked the play “Elephant’s Graveyard” after it was recommended to her by former student, Daniel Prillaman. “I read it, and I really did like it,” Cunningham said, and explained that her Drama Three & Four students read and enjoyed the play as well. “We have never done a memory play at AHS before,” Cunningham said.
Every year, the fall show competes in the VTA competition, which was a new experience for some of the actors. This is the first time Hillstrom has attended VTA, saying that she enjoyed seeing other shows and meeting other actors from different schools across the state. “I also enjoyed hanging around with our own cast, as it allowed me more time to get to know them than rehearsal had let me.”
Some of the cast members, such as senior Brady Storer who plays the Strongman, have attended VTA since freshman year. “Now after four years, as soon as I arrived, it felt like coming home again,” Storer said.
Storer is very fond of the cast and feels strongly that they did a really great job. “I could not have asked for a better group to perform with,” Storer said. “I think our performance was a big success, regardless of what the judges thought.”
The play received Honorable Mention for Best Ensemble and the cast came away with the satisfaction that they engaged and captured their audience. “As the play moved into it’s more horrific scenes, we could really feel the energy of the audience, and I think the cast redirected that energy into our own, making the ending of the show powerful even to ourselves,” Hillstrom said. Hillstrom explained that after their performance at VTA, the cast was drained but content that they had affected the audience so deeply.
“Elephant’s Graveyard” was also popular among other schools and viewers. Jennifer Peart, the Fine Arts Chair of The Covenant School Theater program, emailed Cunningham with her thoughts on Albemarle’s performance. “Your cast was so committed and convincing, captivating, and moving. I really loved it in so many ways – the circus, the clowns, the dirt, the pain, the proletariat feel – really gorgeous all around!” Peart said.
When the cast first started rehearsing, timing for was an issue, even though it is vital to the overall performance. After lots of drilling, the cast successfully picked up on the tempo of certain scenes. “Once we started to get the timing down,” Hillstrom said, “I felt the power of the play grow immensely.”
The AHS Players did come away from this year’s VTA with first place in the Flash Mob competition. The cast and crew danced to the song “Greased Lightning” from the musical “Grease,” which they performed at VTA to get everyone excited for their performance.
Senior Christina Ramsey, who choreographed the flash mob dance, said it was fun to win because of the great participants. Ramsey also received 14 college callbacks, one of them being from JMU, during VTA. “I really wanted to get a callback from JMU because that’s my top choice,” Ramsey said. “It’s really exciting because I want to do musical theater as a career.” Ramsey said she was sad that it is her last year, but had a lot of fun and thought the play was a really good show.
The competition overall has bonded the small cast. “The sheer amount of time spent rehearsing has made us a better cast and closer friends,” Hillstrom said.
The cast performed “Elephant’s Graveyard” for the public on Nov. 16 and 17, and presented the show with as much determination to tell Mary’s story as they did at VTA.
“It is a good story,” Cunningham said. “And it is good storytelling.”
