Maine West’s spring play, ‘A Monster Calls,’ tackles loss, grief
For this year’s spring play, Maine West High School’s fine arts department is putting on the heartbreaking, coming-of-age drama “A Monster Calls.”
Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 24-26, in the Maine West auditorium, 1755 S. Wolf Road, Des Plaines.
Tickets may be purchased at bit.ly/MWBoxOffice or at the door. Admission is $12; $7 for students.
Based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Ness, inspired by Siobhan Dowd, adapted by Sally Cookson and Adam Peck, and devised by the original company members, “A Monster Calls” is an emotional roller coaster. When 13-year-old Conor’s mother falls ill, he begins having a recurring nightmare. In his dream, the comforting tree outside of Conor’s window turns into a monster, who tells Conor three disturbing tales. The Monster expects Conor to tell the fourth tale, forcing him to face the painful truth about his mother’s illness.
“This is a show about finding strength during a time of great sadness,” said show director Judy Klingner. “For anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one, Conor’s journey will hit home. Witnessing the complex feelings of Conor, his mother and his grandmother will create a cathartic experience for our audiences.”
“This character helps Conor process his complicated emotions, making him a pretty complicated character,” said junior Sam Rubio, who portrays the Monster. “It’s intimidating, but sympathetic; harsh, but caring. As a junior, this part is my biggest role in a production yet and it will definitely be a challenge, but I'm ready for it.”
Rubio has also taken on the difficult task of creating music through GarageBand for this show. He is composing transition music to connect scenes together and background music to underscore certain scenes.
“Not only does the music need to match the energy and emotion of the scene, but the timing needs to match up with the lines, and the composition needs to be complex enough to sound good while not taking focus away from the story itself,” Rubio said.
Sophomore Tristan Okurowski plays Harry, a classmate of Conor’s. Harry has no empathy for Conor because he has never known this type of loss.
“Harry is a bully in the production,” Okurowski said. “Having the opportunity to play someone I'm not and experience some character traits outside of my own personality has been really beneficial for me. It has been an outlet, even though it’s through acting.”
The rest of the cast includes: seniors Mia Del Valle, Jaiden Maisonet, Carter Roper and Kat Voroshylkina; juniors John Barva and Cristopher Lawpattanapong; sophomores Mateo Cruz, Faustina Eyeson, Amethyst Gage, Charlie Igartua, Karen Orozco, Viviana Perez and Devon Trejo; and freshmen Elisa Murillo and Wren Sewell.
Behind the scenes, the run crew began working on the production only a few short weeks ago. Although the set is minimalistic, the technical crew has a big job ahead.
Stage manager Ray Copeland, a junior, expressed that this play has nearly as many technical cues as a musical. With the guidance of Maine West’s set and lighting designer Peter McManus, the lights, sound, video and special effects crews are creating powerful images for the nightmare scenes.