Snow White: Six dwarfs and one giant

By Alexis Kominos

​
​Mirror Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? This question is asked several times in the production of Snow White at Glenelg High School. Glenelg’s Theater department never fails to entertain, and this year from November 21 through 28, Snow White was shown to a full auditorium.

​    Mirror Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? This question is asked several times in the production of Snow White at Glenelg High School. Glenelg’s Theater department never fails to entertain, and this year from November 21 through 28, Snow White was shown to a full auditorium.
First published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, the story of Snow White has been around for decades. There are many different versions of the story from the folklore to Walt Disney, and then onto the stage. With magic mirrors, dwarfs, poisoned apples, and kisses that bring back life, Snow White has it all. Glenelg did a fantastic job bringing all these aspects and more to the stage. From the lights and the costumes to the acting, and stage setup, every aspect brought the audience deeper into the story. 
    The story of Snow White is a well-known one. In the play, Glenelg brought aspects of the Grimm Brothers version and the classic Disney version together. Jealous of Snow White's beauty, the wicked queen, played by Kelsey Flavin, orders the murder of her innocent stepdaughter, exected by the huntsman, played by Raj Ukondwa. Later on, the wicked queen discovers that Snow White, played by Kierston King, is still alive and hiding in a cottage with seven dwarfs. The huntsman brought back a pig’s heart instead of Snow White’s heart. Witch Hex, played by Maddy Rothfield, mixes up a spell to disguise the queen as an unrecognizable old lady. The queen brings a poisoned apple and a poison comb, along with other trinkets to Snow White. Reluctant to take a bite of the apple, the queen is persuasive and eventually Snow White falls into the trap. She falls into a death-like sleep that eventually is broken by the kiss from the Prince, played by Grant Smith. In the end, Snow White becomes the new Queen and the evil step-mother is banished from the town, while all the townspeople rejoice. 
    Throughout the whole play, there were lights and effects that really made the magic happen for the audience. The witch would wave her hand and the lights would turn off with perfect timing giving a magical illusion. There was plenty of fog use throughout the play which bolstered some eerie moments that occurred throughout the story. Along with fog, there were colorful lights that catered to the mood of the specific scenes. When the Queen summons the witch, there is fog that comes down from the ceiling then the witch seemingly appears from thin air. The play would not have been the same with the lights and effects, which added plenty of extra ‘oomph’ to the production.
    Going along with the lights and fog helping make the play seem more realistic, the costumes and stage set-up had the same effect. Everybody had on costumes that set the time period and made the audience feel as if they were in a whole new area and time. Kierston King, the lead of the play, playing Snow White, had “hair as black as ebony”, which looked natural and flawless. Nicole Istre, a Senior at Glenelg who saw the play discussed her favorite part and said, “My favorite part was when the witch was given a pig heart as opposed to Snow White’s heart. It did not work for her spell and she turned around with pigtails instead of luscious locks. The costume change was really entertaining to see”. Along with costume changes, the set, made by KNJ Construction, would change as well and the transitions were always smooth. Every year Glenelg is thorough in making sure that the sets look realistic and professional.
    A really big aspect of this play was the use of children. Glenelg has been casting children in the plays for several years, but children played a significant role in Snow White. Every one of the dwarfs was played by children except one, who had very little lines. The dwarfs were a very big part of this whole play, and each had many lines. It was impressive to see each of the children know exactly what they were doing, and speaking all their lines perfectly. Clayton Capenos, a Senior at Glenelg who played the only non-child dwarf, discusses his experience working with many elementary school children. He says, “Working with the kids, in general, is tough because they’re unable to be controlled. However, throughout the practices and run-throughs, they continued to mature beyond what I thought an elementary school kid could.  They were even better memorized than some high schoolers. They stepped up to the challenge and impressed us all”. The kids added a lot to the play and having the contrast of Capenos, a 6-foot tall man and six, small elementary school children was very entertaining to see. 
    The finished product is always the most important part when it comes to a play or musical, but what happens behind the scenes, and all the effort that goes into each play is very important too. All the cast members spent long and hard hours perfecting their lines, choreography, and every other detail. The week leading up to the first show, called “tech week” is said to be very draining for many of the actors. The actors must report to the theater room right after school for hours every day to practice. Going from a six-hour school day to several hours of rehearsal right after can be difficult for the actors, but necessary in order to make the play as best as it can be. 
There are many aspects that go into making the play a success and Ms. Sharp, the teacher of theater, and director of the plays, discuss more behind the scenes details of what goes into each play. She says, “There are so many things that go into each play. First of all, we need the rights to perform the play because different companies own shows. There is a lot of planning with choreography and pre-planning  There are tons of technical elements from designing lights, sounds, costumes, and props. Then we need to design posters and get publicity for the show. There are a million tiny details that need to be perfected”. Along with the technical elements, Sydney Repole, a Senior at Glenelg who played Rosalys, a maid of honor in the play, discussed what it was like to be in the plays behind the scenes. She says, “Being a part of Glenelg Theater is my favorite contribution to Glenelg. Backstage, the cast is super supportive and we all work well together to put on the best production we can. It is a lot of hard work and can become tiring and stressful as well, but in the end, it is always worth it”. 
    Every year, the productions Glenelg puts on are a success. Snow White had all the elements incorporated that made it entertaining to watch for the audience. Lots of hard work and technical details need to be perfected to make the show a success. Ms. Sharp, the mastermind behind it all, never fails to impress the Glenelg students along with many other families and kids within Howard County. Auditions for the next Glenelg play, Hairspray, are on December 17, and it is exciting to see what Ms. Sharp will have in store for everyone this time!