What if Robin Hood were a girl? What if he weren’t just any girl, but was actually Maid Marian in disguise? That’s the premise behind “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood: Teen Edition,” a play by Adam Szymkowicz that South Fork Performing Arts is taking on this weekend at Guild Hall.
“A lot of the merry men are also women in disguise as men or gender nonconforming and it sort of flips the whole idea that it’s all about the men on its head,” said Tamara Salkin, the director. “It takes on a lot of different ideas behind Robin Hood and if you’re smart, you’ll get it!”
Sadie Chaleff, a senior at Southampton High School, plays Lady Shirley, a character who appears to be a floozy. “She has a lot of levels. She is pretending to be someone who she’s not, dumbed down, but she’s really smart and she’s trying to help Marian. It was really cool to play someone who is playing around with her own character,” Sadie said. “A big theme is love. Everybody is trying to find their actual place where it’s okay to do what you want in the end.”
The play is different from most high school performances, not just in its messaging, but because it’s not a musical. Ms. Salkin thinks it gives the actors an opportunity to test out different skill sets.
“I love a play. Not a lot of schools do a play and I think it’s a really important part of actor training to do something other than a musical. Not everybody is a fantastic singer. Not everybody even loves to sing. Some people want more textual lines and not dancing,” she said.
This was the first time that Faith Mullaly and Dominick Vazquez, both East Hampton High School freshmen, took part in a nonmusical performance. Faith, who plays Friar Tuck, is known for her exceptional singing voice, and was excited to try something new.
“I’m very honored to be a part of something besides musicals. It’s nice to change up the repertoire a little bit. It does give me a chance to broaden my horizons, in terms of not just strictly singing while acting, but just acting, and show off that side of me a little bit,” she said.
“I really like the entire dynamic of the play,” said Dominick, who plays Guard One and Sir Theo the Punctual. “I love working deeper into the acting. I started theater just last year and opening my eyes and thinking about my lines and the character and what I have to do is really cool. I just love it. I learned to work better with body language, because body language is a lot in the show.”
Even Ally Cottrell, a senior at Pierson High School who has plenty of acting experience, relished the opportunity to take part in a play.
“I’ve never really done a play before. I’m normally such a musical girl,” Ally said. She plays Will Scarlett in this show. “I think the thing about a play is you dive so much deeper into the actual acting aspects of it. It’s really cool to be able to work on my acting skills in this final play.”
While it’s her last high school play, this is only the beginning of her theater career. This fall Ally is going to the University of Tampa to major in musical theater and minor in education, so she can teach young children to act. She dreams of directing a performance of “The Wizard of Oz” one day.
“I just know I want to be a teacher someday and I know that theater helped me present myself in a better way and I want to do that for kids. I want to help them come out of their shell whether that’s being a teacher or directing or doing both,” she said.
Hannah Pak, a senior at Southampton High School who plays the narrator, Alanna Dale, is also pursuing acting in college. She’ll attend New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she plans to study drama with a minor in the business of the entertainment industry. Her dream? To make it to Broadway. Hannah loves acting with South Fork Performing Arts because it brings a diverse group of teens together.
“It has been so much fun, since Southampton has a limited number of kids who do theater. A lot of kids in East Hampton are big theater kids. The kids from my school love meeting other people who also share the same interests,” she said.
Those other cast members include Zianya Quiroz Kane as Marian/Robin Hood, Leo Guidi as Prince John, Piper Borsack as Little John, Georgia Carey as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Jessica Berger as Lucy and Guard Two, Rylie Field as Much the Miller’s Son, Lily Trelease as Tommy of No Consequence, and Ana Gabriela Zapata as Tanner and Sir Lenny the Observant.
“Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood: Teen Edition” is playing at Guild Hall Friday through Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30.