By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — It’s an important night for the acting troupe at Theatre Baroque for a one-time matinee. But the show has hit a snag – the infamous Burton Cavendish suddenly dies before the premiere of “Don Juan in Cleveland.”
The Clarkston Junior High School Drama Club bring to the audience the chaos which happens in “Backstage” by Pat Cook on Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16.
“It’s a play within a play,” said eighth grader Mason White.
“The theater needs money or it will become a parking lot,” ninth grader Grace Tippett said, adding the famous star Burton Cavendish, is going to perform in the play.
“He’s going to get people to come,” ninth grader Emerson Rinke explained.
But an hour before the show is set to begin, Cavendish dies in his dressing room. But the show must go on or the theater has no chance to stay.

Lou, the director, played by Rinke, convinces the understudy Ajax, played by Nick Hotchkiss, to be Cavendish not only on stage but backstage as well.
“Lou and Max really try to keep everything together,” said White.
“It’s a realistic view of what backstage is like,” Tippett said.
The trio shared there is a lot going on backstage including multiple conversations as well as memorable characters like Skippy, the anxious playwright who never calls by his real name, Jeffrey and Efrem, an older gentleman who lives in the theater.
“Everyone is amazing,” said Tippett, who plays Max, the stage manager.
“It’s so easy,” she said about getting into character. I just have to get mad about something and then I am off. For me, it’s about having fun because Max is a smart mouth so if I let loose and have fun then I can be very sarcastic and very fun.”
“Mine is harder,” White said about bringing Efrem to life. “I am an old man. I have an accent, and I have more experience than anyone in the theater. I have to ask smart and disappointed in the people. It’s a really interesting role.”
“Lou is very practical,” Rinke shared about her character. “I have to know how to deliver my lines in a way I know what I am doing. I have to be on top of everything. I have to deliver with the right comedic timing.”
The drama club will perform “Backstage” at the Clarkston Junior High School Performing Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.
The actors invite the community to come see a show.
“It’s amazing,” said Rinke. “People should come see ‘Backstage’ not just because it gives a realistic point of view of what happens backstage, but it’s just really fun. There is a lot of comedy and a lot of crazy things going on at once. The audience will see deeper into the character’s personalities. Every character gets a focus.”
“Everyone has something going on and you can relate to them, too,” Tippett added. “It will open people’s eyes to the drama community at Clarkston. This show isn’t going to be the last time you see us. We will be doing other shows. It will introduce them to the drama club and the love, and passion we have for theater at Clarkston.”
Rinke shared she was introduced to the theater when she was younger.
“I saw Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, and I wanted to be involved,” she said. “Here I am. I am involved.”
“We are family,” White smiled. “We have a lot of fun and get our work done.”
Tickets are available at the door for $5 each and is general admission.

  clarkston junior high school, Drama Club