Barnstable High School Drama Club seniors say goodbye with final production of 'Newsies'

Students lined the rafters and scattered about the stage as they prepared to do a run-through of “Carrying the Banner” during one of their last rehearsals of “Newsies,” Barnstable High School Drama Club’s spring production.

As they ran through the song, climbing on the scaffolding and dancing across the stage, the motions seemed second nature for most but a few kinks still needed to be worked out before opening night.

While the show, which runs from March 21 to 23, marks the end of the drama club’s season, it also marks the final production for the seniors in the cast and crew.

“I'm so sad,” said Olivia Thompson, co-vice president of the drama club and Davey in “Newsies.” “It's been really fun and I'm loving it. I love ‘Newsies.’ I used to listen to it all the time when I was younger, so it's fun to get to do it for my last show.”

Barnstable High seniors say goodbye with final production of ‘Newsies’

From waiting for college acceptances to anticipating bringing the show to the stage, the drama club seniors all found themselves grappling with their looming futures.

“It’s a full circle moment because of starting all together and ending all together,” said Ryan Field, president of the drama club, who plays Jack Kelly in “Newsies.”

Field started his time with the drama club in third grade as a part of the club’s summer plays. As a kid, he said, he dreamed of one day becoming one of the high schoolers he used to share the stage with. Now that it’s come and almost gone, his goodbyes to the club he’s dedicated so much of his life to will be tough.

“Every year you're like, ‘Okay, next year, we're doing another musical,’ and then this is it,” he said. “I'm proud of myself (for) how every year I push myself to a little better and better. I'm at the point now where I am ready to go. I feel like I've put the work in to get the work out … and I feel like I prepared myself enough to get there and leave a foundation for someone else.”

As the departing president, Field said it’s important to create space for those who will follow in his and his fellow drama club graduates' footsteps as the drama club provides a safe space for so many members.

“There's so many new kids (who) come here (and) they need someone to believe in them,” he said. “Everyone here, I love them, but sometimes like people are mean to each other and you need someone here to (say), ‘No you can go on there and do it’ because it's all mindset. This whole thing is mindset.”

Barnstable High School's Drama Club had 81 members this year, including 14 departing seniors. The high school enrollment is 1,780 students.

"I started teaching this current group of seniors when they were in middle school. In seventh grade, we put on 'Willy Wonka,'" said drama club director Mary Barth. She added that the group will say goodbye at a cast party between Saturday's performances.

"Many of the students that were leads that year (as middle schoolers) are my leads this year as seniors and the transformation each and every one of them has had from middle school to now is incredible," she said.

'It brought me out a little bit': Actress credits drama club with confidence boost

Recalling her days as one of the new kids in the cast, Lucy Sherman, who plays Specs, credits her years spent in the drama club for allowing her to come into her own and become more confident on and off the stage.

“I think BHS drama was just too special,” said Sherman. “I don’t really want to do it in college (because) this was such a special time … I'm so glad I did (drama club) because I made so many friends, and I'm very much an introvert, and it brought me out a little bit.”

As her future approaches, Sherman says she hopes to attend college in New York — acceptance letters and finances willing — but she isn’t quite ready to say goodbye to the people and place she loves most, noting that the curtains aren’t just closing on the show.

“It’s my childhood,” she said. “It’s ending. I equate BHS drama with my childhood. The show’s ending and then it's real. The last two months, I'm not gonna have rehearsal. I'm not gonna stress but I'm also not gonna have as much fun as I do.”

When it came to what they wanted to provide the audience for the last hurrah, the sentiments were clear across the board: a show that exceeded all the others.

“I want to make them cry harder than I've ever made them cry,” Field said. “Laugh harder than I've ever made them laugh. I want this to be something to remember.”

If you go:

“Newsies,” has four showtimes — 7 p.m. on March 21, 7 p.m. on March 22, 2 p.m. on March 23 and 7 p.m. on March 23 — and will be performed at the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center (774 West Main St. in Hyannis.) Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors and students and $1 for children under 4. For more information about the show, cast and to purchase tickets, visit www.onthestage.tickets/barnstable-high-school-drama-club/.

Frankie Rowley covers entertainment and things to do. Contact her at frowley@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Barnstable High seniors take final bows with 'Newsies' that starts March 21