On March 27, 28, and 29, the Seymour Owl Theater Company presented The Canterville Ghost. Student director Addie Brock and staff director Carrie Miller directed the play, which is based on a work by Oscar Wilde. 269 attendees across three performances filled the Earl D. Prout Auditorium, proving the cast’s effort worthwhile.
Rehearsals for the play began in February, and the diverse cast of students was immediately hard at work. The cast included a varied group of students from different grade levels and backgrounds. The entire cast was determined to make the show a success, and as a cast member, I felt a stronger sense of unity in this cast than in other SHS theater productions.
When cast members weren’t memorizing their lines or positions on stage, they were hard at work constructing the set for the play. The centerpieces of the set were an elaborate fireplace and a bookshelf that could open up, allowing for the titular ghost to creep into scenes. The stage crew, managed by Sydney Bush, helped the show run effortlessly and made the show a stronger team effort.
After weeks of tedious rehearsals, the performances came, and all three shows went off without a hitch. The comedic script drew riotous laughter from the audience while also providing emotional moments. A standout performance of the show came from Mason Moore, who portrayed Sir Simon Canterville. Despite The Canterville Ghost being his first theater performance at SHS, Mason performed with the emotion and energy of a seasoned actor.
Besides presenting a fresh wave of actors at SHS, The Canterville Ghost was also a bittersweet last performance for the senior members of the theater company, including Ava Shuler. Her lead performance as Virginia Otis was the last role in a high school theater career that saw Shuler perform in four plays and three musicals across her four years at SHS.
When asked about her experience on the set of The Canterville Ghost, Ava Shuler stated, “My mindset for my final show was to make it enjoyable for everyone involved.” When asked about the younger performers in the cast and the future of SHS’s theater program, Shuler also claimed “The young actors I would say stood out the most would be Sully Dick and Mason Moore. Mason’s development was insane, and he has so much potential.”
As someone who has been in multiple theater productions both in and out of Seymour High School, The Canterville Ghost stood out to me as the most unified cast I have ever worked with. I believe that a key element in this was the blend of younger actors and veterans of the SHS Theater coexisting and sharing their talents. Multiple promising freshmen and sophomores performed in the play, as well as experienced cast members. The bond between the cast felt like a family, and I was glad to see how everybody on the cast helped each other improve.
