Irvington Puts On “Mamma Mia” Production

From April 3 to April 11, Irvington High School's theatre department hosted the musical, “Mamma Mia.” The director, Matthew Ballin, was in charge of this production as this is his last year before retirement. Ballin wanted a production that was popular, fun and profitable. The actors made a list of the plays they wanted to do, then Ballin had a meeting with the production staff about what shows were suitable. Sometimes, it takes several meetings before deciding. “Mamma Mia” ended up fitting the criteria perfectly.

The production team also decided to have a double cast for this show, meaning some characters would be played by two actors, and they would split the performance dates between them. The characters Donna, Sophie, Ali and Lisa were double cast. Danielle Sorci, one of the actors who played Donna, described how they managed rehearsals with two casts:

“[The other actress for Donna] would do one scene and I would do another, and so we went back and forth,” Sorci said.

“The double cast was really hard because, at least on my end, it kind of felt like constant comparison between the two of us,” Sorci expressed. “I had to stop myself from comparing my version of the show to her version of the show. I reminded myself that both shows can be good without comparison.”

As a director, it is important to critique actors to help them get fully into character. Ballin describes his technique for helping actors improve. “...I'm very much a Stanislavskian. Stanislavski was a Russian acting drama teacher, director, opera director, and he wrote some very important books about acting and one of his things was the Magic Ifs,” stated Ballin.

The Magic If method is to ask yourself about the circumstances. For example, what’s going on? Then, you find an objective for your character. What is it the character wants? What obstacles do they face? You implement the Magic Ifs and then it’s all a matter of reacting. People may wonder how the actors themselves get fully into character. Sorci explained, “I imagined myself going off to college and leaving my parents so I felt that while I was singing the song [“Slipping Through My Fingers”], it reminded me of myself in a similar situation.”

Sorci does method acting, a method where actors fully immerse themselves into the character they’re playing on and offscreen. Gabrielle Sonnberger who plays Sophie in “Mamma Mia,” does a lot of prep before getting into character.

“I watched a lot of videos beforehand when we practiced and I would practice it often… after we do spirit circle, I take a couple minutes to sit and relax,” Sonnberger said. “And then when they call places, I go backstage and then take more time to be by myself.”

Levi Sampson, the actor who played Sam, said he got into character by imagining himself in their shoes and setting aside time to get acquainted with how his character interacted with others.

Sampson stated, “We took a day to discuss Donna and Sam's relationship. And that really helped the acting on stage, because now we had a background we could go off of. Like, how did they use to interact, and how would that impact how they interact now?”

A common question actors often get is how they memorize their lines. “Every night before I go to bed, I recite the lines in my head… and then I lie down in my bed, I close my eyes, and then I rehearse the whole thing in my head. And by the next day, whatever I practice, I'll remember it,” Sampson explained.

While the show itself is a big event, promoting it is one of the most important things to reach audiences. Ballin was asked if there were any creative ways he promotes his shows, rather than the traditional way of putting posters around the school.

“We haven’t done many nontraditional stuff but the students have… they’ve been making videos on Instagram,” Ballin said. These videos were funny, trendy memes on Instagram to reach students. Overall, Ballin’s last production was a resounding success. Over 100 tickets were sold on opening and closing night. Although this play wraps up the program for the school year, more productions will be coming in the fall and next spring.