Melissa Koenigsberg
reading Kate from
Taming Of The Shrew.
Irt>4X. AP
Center Stage
itting in a chair, staring out
into blackness, a woman
spoke briefly of her lover of
two years.
She was doing laundry
when she looked down into
the machine and saw his un-
derwear — imagining him
still in it, through the spin cy-
cle. She grew slightly hyster-
ical — no, she could not be his
friend; she could not be dig-
LESLEY PEARL
nified — then calmed, smiled
STAFF WRITER
and lowered her head.
Photography by Daniel Lippitt
A round of applause shot
through the darkened
room known as the Fo-
rum.
Senior Beth Friedlaen-
der exited the tiny pit, not
sure how many times she
had performed the mono-
logue "Demigod" from A
— My Name Is Alice. It
was her audition piece for
college and her perfor-
mance for Theatre Week
— West Bloomfield High
School's answer to Strat- Sue iconetli and Randi Roland In a scene
ford.
from The Bad Seed.
Theatre Week
presents drama
students
with 15 minutes
of fame.
This is the third in a series
of life in Rob Leider's sixth-
hour drama class at West
Bloomfield High School.
For eight years, West
Bloomfield's advanced and
intermediate drama students
have given the school a taste
of off-Broadway — present-
ing humorous skits, dramatic
readings and thought-pro-
voking dialogues.
Teachers choose from 16
time periods to give their stu-
dents respite from Camus
and calculus. to watch the
performances. About 250 stu-
dents attend each hour to
watch the performances.
Advanced, sixth-hour
students dominated the
stage.
This year marked
Beth's fourth in Theatre
Week. Her experience
was unique.
As a freshman, she
filled in for an advanced
drama student and nev-
er left. "I like the intimate
setting of Theatre Week
and the opportunity to
choose my work," Beth
said.
-4111411110101111Weelell.,
She chose "Demigod" for its
mood and complexity.
"When choosing a mono-
logue, I look for humor with
depth. I like something sort
of darker, with a higher lev-
el of humor. You're not sure
if you're supposed to laugh,"
Beth said. "It's strange.
"Demigod" is so well known
most directors suggest not
auditioning with it — it's too
hard to pull off. But I felt I
could do it and do it well."
Among the other well-
known material performed
were scenes from Guys and
Dolls, West Side Story, The
Odd Couple and "Southpaw"
from Free To Be You And Me.
Meredith Allan, a junior,
chose a lesser-known, yet per-
sonally challenging piece
from Whoopi Goldberg's
repertoire.
Standing slightly slumped
over, feet turned inward, left
arm awkwardly bent, and
speaking with an impedi-
ment, Meredith portrayed a
physically challenged woman
preparing for marriage.
Her character is to wed a
reporter who overlooks the
challenges and encourages
her to dance, swim and live a
fully active life.
"Some people found the
routine offensive, but they
just weren't listening to the
words. It's really a very pos-
itive message — it's about
treating people normally,"
Meredith said.
Meredith said the most dif-
ficult aspect of preparing the
monologue was the mechan-
ics of movement — training
herself to remain "bent," and
unable to move the left side
of her body. She did not at-
tempt to create a black char-
acter, only a physically
challenged one.
"Whoopi is black, but I
don't think her character is.
She could be Asian, white,
Italian, anything. She's a
challenged woman," Mere-
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