The Chocolate War
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Would you imagine that refusing to sell chocolates in a school fundraiser could cost you your peace of mind, even your life? That's exactly what happens to Jerry Renault, the new kid at a New England Catholic high school who just lost his mom and whose timid father has never “dared disturb the universe.” (The quote comes from a T.S. Eliot poem, reprinted at the bottom of this page.) Coming face to face with gang leader Archie Costello and his henchmen, Jerry makes a choice that threatens to take the whole school apart. To some, Jerry is a hero; to others, he's a target for their pent-up frustrations.
This compelling coming-of-age story by Robert Cormier came out in 1974, and it is still popular and relevant today. While widely acclaimed (The New York Times Book Review called it masterfully structured and rich in theme), it faced censorship because of its uncompromising realism. Among its many awards is one from the American Library Association, which cited The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese and After the First Death as “brilliantly crafted and troubling novels that have achieved the status of classics in young adult literature.”
Directed by Roberta Weiner & Nick Morana
Adapted by Joseph Robinette from the book by Robert Cormier
Presented through special arrangement with the Dramatic Publishing
Service of Woodstock, Ill.
Prana presented The Chocolate War Fri., May 11 and Sat., May 12, 2007 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 13 at 4 p.m. at The Prana Center, 21G Charles St., Holliston, MA.
The cast of Chocolate War (not pictured: Nick Zais)
Jerry Renault –
Sam Gillespie
Ellen Understudy:
Creative and Technical Team
Sneak Preview at the Library - April 27,
2007
Joseph Duda (David
Caroni) is thrilled to be in yet another Prana Production. Joseph
was recently seen as the comic Mr. Dussel in The Diary of Anne
Frank and just before that, in Pirates of Penzance as
Sergeant Cornwall, leader of the slapstick police. He has happily
appeared in many other Prana Productions including Stuart
Little - schoolboy, Charlotte’s Web – photographer,
fairgoer, spectator, Comedy Tonight – featured in several
solos, and A Christmas Carol – Bob Cratchit. Joseph has
also been in the last few Prana Summer Camp programs as well as in
other Prana drama classes. Other theater credits include working
with Southborough Players in Beauty and the Beast,
Washington Street Players in Anne of Green Gables, and in
various Holliston Middle School productions: Cinderella –
the Prince, and Annie – Bert Healy. Joseph, thankful to
his family for their continued support and encouragement, is
pleased to be part of such a talented cast with great directors. Adam
Greenberg (Voice) most recently appeared in Prana Productions'
winter show, The Diary of Anne Frank (Mr. Kraler).
Adam is excited to be on stage with Prana once again. Matthew Greenberg (Jerry's Father/ Danny Malloran) is appearing
for the first time in a Prana Production. Matt is very excited to be
joining Prana Productions for his acting debut.
Beth Hobbs (Brian Cochran) has been in many Prana Productions,
including Pirates of Penzance, A Christmas Carol and Comedy
Tonight. She has also attended Prana camp
for the past 3 years. She has been on stage several times and also
worked backstage during Anne Frank. Beth is excited to be cast in
The Chocolate War, and she’s not too surprised to be cast as a boy
(for the fourth time)! Leighann Kelly (Voice) has been in multiple Prana productions.
She played Fred in A Christmas Carol, Rachel in Pirates Of
Penzance, and was featured in many camp productions (most recently
the doorwoman in Oz!) She also has been dancing for 9 years and also
enjoys anything to do with animals, gymnastics and working backstage
at plays. Leighann wants to thank Roberta and Nick for giving her this
opportunity, and wants to tell the cast to break a leg!
Jinny Pollinger (Voice) recently appeared as
Rachel Pollinger (Voice) is an 8th grader at Adams Middle
School in Holliston. She most recently appeared in Prana's The
Diary of Anne Frank as older Anne. She was also in The Pirates of
Penzance as Isabel. She played Caroline in Prana's A Christmas Carol
. Rachel
was a member of Prana's Comedy Tonight cast. She also appeared
in Prana's Charlotte's Web as Templeton. She was Lord Everwood
in Prana Productions' The Emperor's New Clothes. Her first play with
Prana was Stuart Little, where she appeared as a schoolchild.
Her roles in Prana camp shows include the Cheshire Cat in Alice in
Wendyland (group-written play), Glasswit in The Wizard of Oz, Ursula
in Bye Bye Birdie, Mr. Grimwig in Oliver!, and Anne in Anne of
Green Gables. Rachel's other favorite role is Mindy Mince in Beauty
and the Beast with the Southboro Players. Rachel is extremely
happy to be a part of this production and wishes to tell the cast to
break a leg! Ethan Rayner (Emile
Janza) has been involved in Prana Productions summer camps for four
years playing roles such as Fagan in Oliver Twisted (2004),
Fredric in Pirates Of Penzance (2005), and the Cowardly Lion
in The Wizard of Oz (2006) but making his first appearance in
a Prana production outside of summer camp. He has also appeared as
The Prince in the Holliston Middle School play, Cinderella
and is excited to be involved in the production of one of his
favorite books. He would also like to thank his mother because she
told him to.
Hannah Fried-Tanzer (Hippie, Santucci, and Brother Eugene) returns
to the stage with Prana Productions after playing the role of Mrs.
Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank. She was one of the
comical policemen in Pirates of Penzance and played a
passionate Fern in Charlotte's Web. She has attended Prana
Theatre Camp for the last four summers and plans to spend most of
this summer there, too! Hannah would like to thank her friends and
family for their encouragement and support! Jake Vaccari
(Jeff Adano) has most recently appeared as The Herald in the
Holliston Middle School's Cinderella. Jake is very excited to
take part in his first Prana Production. Nick Varrell (Carter) is appearing in his third Prana Production.
He has previously appeared as Mr. Frank in the 2007 production of The
Diary of Anne Frank and the pirate Abraham in the 2006 production of
Pirates of Penzance. Nick's introduction to performing came through
his experiences in Destination Imagination creative theatrical
competitions He is excited to
be participating with friends in this production of The Chocolate War
and is glad that the boys finally outnumber the girls.
Nicholas Zais (Football
Coach/Frankie Rollo) is proud to be playing these parts in The
Chocolate War. Nick’s past performances were A Christmas Carol
and Prana Camp, 2005 and 2006. He would like to thank his family and
friends for their support and Roberta and Nick for giving him a chance
with these roles. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot (quoted in The
Chocolate War, highlighted passage below))
Archie Costello – Erin Anderson
Goober – Sam Wolpert
Brother Leon –
Matthew Curtis
Emile Janza – Ethan Rayner
Obie – Matt Clancy
Carter – Nick Varrell
Brian Cochran – Beth Hobbs
Ellen Barrett – Jess Boudreau
Gregory Bailey – Mack LeGros
Jerry’s Father/Danny Malloran –
Matt Greenberg
David Caroni – Joseph Duda
Frankie Rollo – Nick Zais
Hippie/Brother Eugene’s Voice/Santucci –
Hannah Fried-Tanzer
Jeff Adano – Jake
Vaccari
Directors: Roberta Weiner and Nick Morana
Sound Design & Operation: Nick Morana
Costumes & Stage Manager: Dawn Anderson
Lighting Operators: Carol and Katie Emerson
Dressers: Colleen Fitzpatrick and Molly Wyatt
Rehearsal Assistance: Laura Baker and Emma Madden
Lighting Consultant: Dan Doane
Audition Assistance: Dayna Altman, Phil Bassett, Dan Doane, Dayna Doane
Administration: Dayna Doane
Posterboard Design: Haley McIsaac
Curtain Sewing: Laura Emerson
Cast Bios
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:--
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all--
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all--
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
. . . . .
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? . . .
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
. . . . .
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a
platter,
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail
along the
floor--
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."
. . . . .
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old . . .I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.