Tuesday, February 1, 2011

‘Se Terminer’ an Intense Senior Project ~ By, Charity Maness

  
   When we see a flyer of a play, or hear of a production coming soon, do we ever stop to wonder at who wrote the script? Who directed it? Well, for this particular play, you may just want to ask yourself those questions.
   Se Terminer was written and directed by 17 year old Sarah Kraemer, a Copperopolis resident and Bret Harte Senior.
   Sarah has immersed herself in the world of music and drama, acting with a passion for the last four years and performing a few leads along the way. She has played Princess Aurora in CSTARS 2011 production of Sleeping Beauty, Ursula in The LIttle Mermaid, Juliet in the Bret Harte Advanced Drama class rewrite of Romeo and Juliet, and the list goes on and on.  With her mentor being Ann Mazzaferro, a director with CSTARS, she has embraced the full spectrum of a drama production.
   In her sophomore year Sarah had read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens  and knew there was something more there that needed to discovered. “There was a particular passage where the character Charles Darnay was in prison that really struck me….after doing some research on the French Revolution, I came across the story of Charlotte Corday. After that I would say I was pretty much hooked on the idea of writing a story about that time.”
   Coordinating 15 cast members, one stage manager, several teachers “whom serve as our supervisors so we can use the school's facilities”, the theater director David Duggan, parents Mark and Renee Kraemer and several other members of the community, was not easily accomplished. Coordinating with everyone’s schedules, inclus=ding her own, made the road a more difficult one.
   When asked what she felt was the best part about her senior project she had this to say, “There have been so many great parts about my project. For me, though, one of the most rewarding things has been seeing those little instances where a cast member has an "Aha" moment and suddenly makes a visible connection with their character that they didn't have before. Its really just incredible watching these characters I've carried around in my head come to life and some of the portrayals are so spot on as to what I imagined it's quite staggering.
   Sarah hopes to attend CSU Sacramento this fall as a music major.
   The play is due to show at the Bret Harte Theater on February twelfth with a matinee at 2 p.m. and an evening performance at 7 p.m. Admission will be $5 for students and seniors and $8 for adults.

.Sarah as 'Aurora' in CSTARS production of Sleeping Beauty

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