VCMS Drama Teacher's Original Play Also A Stylish Curtain Call

VERNON, CT — Vernon's celebrated and popular middle school drama teacher is making a curtain call in style.

The Vernon Center Middle School Drama Club will perform an original play this week called, “The Amazing Vanderbilt Concert Caper." Showtime is on on May 2 at the bargain ticket price of $5.

The play was written by Deborah Halpryn, a reading interventionist at VCMS and the school's longtime Drama Club adviser. It features 21 students in a variety of roles, a band consisting of VCMS faculty and staff and nine students operating the lights and sound and sets built in-house.

It will also be Halpryn's finale as Drama Club adviser as she will retire at the end of the school year.

Halpryn said she devised got the idea for the play last summer and began writing a script. When her colleagues agreed to participate with their band – formed mostly to perform in school talent contests – she buckled down to complete the play.

"Because I have been the drama director for most of the last 29 years, I know what goes into a middle school play," Halpryn said. "The more I thought about it, the more I thought this could work for us."

The play is about a rich woman who decides to throw a benefit concert for a local charity, but doesn’t do any of the work herself. All that falls to her three assistants, who work to put the concert together in 48 hours while constantly solving problems and working to keep their jobs.

The script has been adjusted since Halpryn first put it to paper. Her daughter, Clarissa,
gave the draft a first read and made some suggestions. And the students have worked with Halpryn to make adjustments on the fly as they rehearse after school.

"The students have been really helpful," she said. "As we’ve gone through the play, they’ve been really patient when I would say, ‘OK, this is not working, we need to change a line or I need five minutes to figure it out.'"

The students have helped improve the script as well, Halpryn said.

"One student put in an exclamation one day and it was so funny," she said. "We said yup, we’re keeping that one. It’s definitely a work in progress."

The five-member staff band, called The Common Chord, is the band featured in the benefit concert.
The performance, and Drama Club in general, is all about the students – giving the opportunities to perform and to participate in any way they like.

"One of the things that has been really important for me with Drama Club is that everybody has a place," Halpryn said. "If you want to be part of Drama Club, you can be. If you want to be an actor, we have a spot for you. If you want to be on the tech crew, we have a spot for you."

VCMS Principal David Caruso praised Halpryn for her work and said he loves seeing students take the lead on elements of the production, as well as step way outside of their comfort zones by standing in front of their classmates and families and performing.

"In a timeframe where kids are really self-conscious, for them to put themselves out there is really impressive and shows a lot of courage," Caruso said. "Some kids discover talents they never knew they had when they go out for drama."

Drama, music, creative writing and visual arts are as essential as reading, writing, mathematics and science in preparing students for a successful life, Vernon Superintendent of Schools Joseph Macary said.

"The arts help our students develop critical thinking skills and enrich their lives,” Macary said. "The arts also support the social and emotional learning needs of students, help them succeed both in and out of school, improve communication skills and can help them develop a sense of self and build confidence."

All profits from the show will go to the Cornerstone Foundatiomn, a Vernon social services organization that offers daily meals, food and clothing pantries and a shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

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"The Amazing Vanderbilt Concert Caper” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, May 2 at the Vernon Center Middle School auditorium. The show runs about 90 minutes. Tickets are $5 and only cash is accepted. There will also be a bake sale. All are welcome.