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DRAPER — In every generation, events challenge our faith in humanity. The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Sandy Hook massacre are examples in the new millennium. In the 1960s, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. left lasting scars.
The play, "The Serpent," links those earlier events to the story of original sin in the Book of Genesis. At Juan Diego Catholic High School, a new generation of theater students is learning from the production.
The Jean-Claude van Itallie play opens with a horrifying autopsy of the brain. Senior Ally Shea Sexton plays the medical examiner who reflects on how even the violent death of an important person can inspire others to greatness saying, "There is no measure to what degree the mind imagines, receives or dreams."
The slow-motion re-enactment of Kennedy's assassination follows with the actors playing the scene backwards and forwards until the violence becomes almost too ritual. Soon, the audience is thrown into the Garden of Eden where Eve is tempted to eat the forbidden fruit. Adam is at first horrified and the chorus of actors reflect his concerns saying, "You have eaten of that which is forbidden. Do you want me to eat and die too?"
It's definitely a play that you have to learn about, learn about in-depth to be able to perform it well and just be able to understand it. Because you can't perform anything unless you understand it.
–Ally Shea Sexton
The actors move seamlessly from one scene to another. The entire cast is on stage from the beginning to the end of the production. They perform against a stark, black background with no props to support them.
The actors' dramatic use of movement and voice carry the show. As they break formation and approach the front of the stage they raise their voices to almost a yell, "I was not involved, I am a small person, I hold no opinions, I stay alive." In other words, they want no part of the evil in the world.
"The Serpent" explores the origins of evil, its ripple effects across time and the effort to find innocence in a violent world. Senior Caroline May plays a variety of roles in the production. She describes the play's message in this way, "Adam and Eve caused original sin, which caused death and all of the sin that exists in the world today. "
It's a heavy topic and not an easy one for these young theater students at Juan Diego to tackle.
"It's definitely a play that you have to learn about, learn about in-depth to be able to perform it well and just be able to understand it," Sexton said. "Because you can't perform anything unless you understand it."
Joe Crnich is the director of "The Serpent" and heads the Theater Arts Department at Juan Diego. He trusted his students with this complicated material. "It's just a difficult topic to take seriously and make it fly and make it sing," says Crnich. May agrees, saying, "It was definitely intimidating to say the least just because it's so powerful and we were worried about doing it justice."
At regional competition last month, the judges felt the students did do the play justice — the performance won first place.
"It's so beautiful and so many people have experienced the subjects that it discusses," says May. This weekend, the students will perform it once again at the statewide drama competition hoping for the same positive response.
