The Cardinal Theater Company Presents Number the Stars to Newman Audience
The Cardinal Theater Company ahead of their performance
On February 26th and 27th, the Cardinal Theater Company presented its winter play Number the Stars to an audience of Newman middle school, teachers, and some high schoolers as well as parents ahead of the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild competition on March 8th.
Number the Stars is a play that follows Annemarie Johansson, her family, and her best friend Ellen in 1943 Copenhagen. It deals with the struggle of having to hide Ellen to keep her safe and generally dealing with soldiers taking over the city and understanding the danger of the war.
Throughout the process of the play, the theater company welcomed many newcomers as well as theater veterans. For some, this is also the last production they will be doing with the school. Leon Baert ‘25 shared, “This was my fourth and unfortunately, last show for the school company. I’m sad to go, but it’s been such a wonderful experience, in all the plays, I got to meet many friends and it was always an enjoyable experience,” he shared, being one of the seniors along with Lucy Keesbury ‘25, who played Annemarie and August McFeeters ‘25 co-stage manager. Being a part of the theater company myself, I can say that they were such an important part of each of the plays they were in and we’ll miss them so much next year.
As always, the company shared their gratitude for Ms. Rachael Ollagnon, IB theater teacher and leader of the theater company who makes every play possible. Mila Paola ‘29, whose third show was with the school, shared, “ Ms. Ollagnon always makes the play what it is, she always has the perfect guidance for every scene and is so incredibly helpful to every part of the process, we really wouldn’t be able to do it without her,”
However there were also many important people behind the scenes as well, Izzy Czerwinski ‘29 shared her gratitude for Adele Donaldson zu Ermgassen ‘26, the costume designer for the production. “I would really like to thank Adele, she made the costumes so perfectly for the time period and was so nice to talk to backstage. That’s a part of theater that I really liked, I felt like everyone was really welcoming, which was especially nice since I was new to theater,”.
All of the cast also appreciated the kind and friendly atmosphere the theater company created. Brooke Murphy ‘29 commented, “Even though it was my first time doing theater, I immediately felt really welcomed into it since everyone was so nice, I was also able to make new friends through the [experience of the play], making me look forward to each rehearsal,”.
The next step is for the company to take the play to METG or the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild Competition, for the fourth year in a row. Many are excited, especially veterans who experienced the competition before, as they expressed interest in meeting other actors and seeing shows by other schools. Best of luck to the company in the upcoming competition!
The actors during their middle school performance