In an upcoming production, girl power is magical power.
“High School Coven” is a play about four girls uniting to get through the good, the bad and homecoming, forming a coven to protect themselves from the challenges of high school. They do this through the use of witchcraft, wit and a strong friendship using the art of contemporary and magical realism.
From Nov. 14 to Nov. 16, the Playshop Theatre is producing its version of “High School Coven,” written by Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin. The show will be performed in the Gladys Mullenix Black Theatre in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts.
Garvin works at Salem State University as an assistant professor of theater and speech communication. They primarily work as a playwright-in-residence but also direct productions as well.
“Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin is a brilliant playwright who I have had the opportunity to work with in grad school,” said Rachel Nicole Hoey, an assistant professor of theater at Allegheny and director of the upcoming “High School Coven” production. “I have seen a good amount of Kaela’s body of work, and what I really love about their playwriting is that the dialogue and the way things shift and move is accessible to actors and gives them a chance to put their own spin on the characters, allowing for a sort of magical build-up for the audience.”
Though the play is set in high school, Hoey believes it is applicable for other times in life as well, including college.
“This play is particularly interesting because the story line is high school, but we can translate it to our experiences in college and thereafter,” Hoey said. “The idea of being a woman and having to deal with crap from men or have these microaggressions happen to us and not know how to navigate it and to find a group of people who will support you and have your back.”
Ainslee Plesko, ’28, and Circe Daken, ’29, are the two backstage stage managers for the show. Their key responsibilities are updating and distributing the rehearsal report, helping run production meetings and assisting with set changes and prop placement during rehearsal.
“I know Allegheny pushes the whole community thing, but the theater community here is so good,” Plesko said. “I am not in any way affiliated with theater as part of my studies, but it is something that is so worth it in the long run.”
The coven in the play consists of Liana, Rachel, Naomi and Trina, played by Ashley Swierczewski, ’27, Alexandria Richard, ’27, Jude Gotschall, ’26, and Emma Conti-Windle, ’27, respectively. (Conti-Windle is also the “Ask Allegheny” Producer & Host at The Campus.) The cast only has a few additional cast members, such as the Principal, played by Josie Ege, who lives in Meadville, as well as Chelsey Cottrill, ’29, who plays Shopgirl.
There are two understudies, Lily Wallace, ’29, and Sydney Mitrecic, ’26, who cover three roles. Wallace also serves as the assistant director for the production.
“I really enjoy working with Lily as she sort of acts as a second pair of eyes for the show,” Hoey said. “She has been really great, especially in movement sequences, and deciding how everything looks and what are we thinking and any notes we want to give the cast. It is a chance for me to sort of give students the opportunity to take their hand at directing in a small way even though I am the one doing the majority of it and running the show.”
The coven is a group of misfits who are the only ones in the show able to cast spells and produce magic aside from Shopgirl, an aspiring witch who serves as a sort of oracle. They are self-proclaimed amateur witches who have witchcraft books that they read spells from to help themselves get through high school.
“I think this show having the energy of just having female presenting and gender non-conforming people in the room, sort of creates a different environment,” Gotschall said. “I go to rehearsal and I could start rehearsal in a very bad mood and by the end I am cracking jokes and I am having such a good time because I am so freely in it, which is just something that I feel about theatre in general. But, specifically with this cast, I want to make those girls laugh and they are all very special to me.”
Students are able to get involved in productions such as this by participating in the Playshop Theatre kickoff at the beginning of the year. Students can participate even if they are not majoring or minoring in theater or any of the arts. Hoey said there are positions available for all kinds of interests, including building the set and stage management.
“I think for me as a director,” Hoey said, “(I’m) always trying to get our students to do a little something new, so that after they graduate and head into the real world, these are characters that they could play in real life experiences.”
