Potomac Falls High This article is one of seven looking at the challenges that educators, parents and students faced in creating a new Virginia high school. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Part 1: Boundary Decision Delayed Part 2: Dispute Over School's Size Part 3: A Study in Starting Fresh Part 4: A Learning Experience Part 5: New High School Debuts Part 6: Club Membership Lags Part 7: "Big Game" Unites Students

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 1997; Page V03

In a backstage room with walls painted black, the three dozen members of the Potomac Falls High School drama club nervously prepared for the first theatrical performance in school history. They stretched, hugged, jumped restlessly in place and offered each other words of encouragement.

Potomac Falls is Loudoun County's first new high school to open in 21 years, and its drama club had to start almost from scratch -- recruiting students to act, building all the props, sewing costumes. For the first performance, drama teacher Renee Haynes picked a tricky play and an even trickier audience.

The complex nature of "Alice in Wonderland" meant that numerous characters would have to trust others to have their timing down pat. Even less certain, however, would be the reaction of the spectators: 500 fifth-graders from the five elementary schools closest to the new high school in Sterling.

"This will be your most difficult audience," Haynes told her troops as they joined hands in a circle. "They'll laugh at things that you don't expect them to laugh at. But you have a high-energy show, so keep the energy up!"

Haynes had invited the elementary school classes to special noon performance of the play Thursday so that the fifth-graders, many of whom never had seen a dramatic presentation, would be introduced to the theater in an age when many children's lives are filled with television, movies and video games.

"I wanted to get the younger kids interested in theater, and I think it's good that we do something for the community," Haynes said, noting that the future "Alices" of the Potomac Falls drama club could be in the audience.

It also didn't hurt that the fifth-graders offered the Potomac Falls drama club a test audience before the club debuted three performances before paying audiences over the weekend, including a 2 p.m. showing today.

Haynes, a co-sponsor of the drama club at Loudoun County High before Potomac Falls opened this year, picked "Alice in Wonderland" precisely because it offered numerous roles; she hoped to encourage more students to join the drama club.

About 70 students auditioned at the initial casting call in September -- about half the number who generally show up at more established area schools, but more than Haynes expected, she said.

The club worked feverishly to prepare for its debut, and no one was sure how the fifth-graders would react to the 1 1/2-hour performance. But the children chatted excitedly as they filed into the theater to the music of "Memories" from "Cats."

"That's all they asked about today: `When are we going to see the play?' " said Steve Walter, a teacher from Potowmack Elementary.

Once the theater went dark, the youngsters fell as silent as they could. Soon, Alice (sophomore Angela Dvorak, 15) found a key.

"What a curious key," said Dvorak, wearing overalls and her hair tied in pigtails, while looking at the audience. "What do you suppose it goes to?"

"A door!" shouted hundreds of fifth-graders.

As the play progressed, it was clear that the fifth-graders did not understand all the jokes and riddles, and at times the actors spoke too quickly or softly for the children in the far reaches of the theater to hear.

However, the audience erupted in glee when the Mad Hatter, played by sophomore Jenny Day, and the March Hare (sophomore Mike Johnson) poured tea on the Doormouse (freshman Erin Gilbert).

The children clapped rhythmically when freshman Rob Tommasone, playing an Elvis-like character that Haynes added to one scene, took a microphone and sang a tune sounding vaguely like "Blue Suede Shoes."

And they shouted in surprise when Dvorak jumped off the stage and led about 20 cast members on a riotous chase to the tune of the "William Tell Overture."

"My favorite part was the tea party. It was funny," said Tracy Hines, 10, of Sugarland Elementary.

Jenna Hill, 11, of Meadowland Elementary, said: "They really made the actors and actresses look like they were part of the scenery. It sort of looked like a movie."

Jenna's mother, Susan, was chaperoning on the trip and thought the performance was an eye-opener to the fifth-graders.

"When they see kids that age doing it, it sparks their interest, and they think, `Well, maybe I don't have to be a professional actress to know how to do this. I can learn and try things out,' " Susan Hill said.

Backstage after the show, the actors began to peel off some of their costumes and turn back into regular students. The first performance in school history was in the books.

"Everybody got their line right on. I think it was a great way to start the theater program," said sophomore Sara Tandy, who played Humpty Dumpty. "But gosh, I didn't think the world could make so many children."