The Bethpage High School’s 2016 play, Big Rock at Candy Mountain hit the stage last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The drama club has been working hard for the past few months now. They’ve stayed at school for hours practicing their scenes and lines over and over again. The title, Big Rock at Candy Mountain, can be quite deceiving for some who may have thought it was an actual rock on a mountain. The play, however, is actually about a young business man, Adam Garrison (played by sophomore Will Katartzis), who wanted to start his own music business and prove his father and everyone else wrong who didn’t believe he could survive in the music industry. Him and his business partner, Zippity Dewdar (played by junior Marco Cunha) , went searching for a large plot of land to host a music festival on for the weekend. On their journey, they found Candy’s Mountain. Candy, (portrayed by senior Erin Jedd), was a young woman who lived on her deceased father’s farm with her two aunts, Aunt Charity (senior Keana Lee) and Aunt Patience (junior Christine Corsaro). A romance between Candy and Adam was brewing, but money seemed to be an issue. The music festival, however, was a disaster. Money was lost, babies were born, fences were broken, and injuries were made. But, at the end of the day, Adam was able to get Candy her money back to repay her for the mountain and get it back to what it once was. Afterwards, Candy and Adam got married and everyone continued on to live happy lives.

Isabella Ingenito was one of the actresses in the play. She explained that some days in drama are challenging but all together at the end of the day, she loves it! She made a plethora of new friends from drama, especially the freshmen, and considers everyone to be a part of her family. Furthermore, she exclaims that if anyone has any interest in theatre, drama is a great way to get involved with it and she wants as many people to join as possible. The drama club is very welcoming to newcomers and love enthusiasm towards acting and theatre.

Senior Erin Jedd played the lead role, Candy. Erin has been doing drama since the 6th grade and had a connection with theatre ever since. She exclaims that playing the lead can be very challenging at times, with so many lines to memorize but she couldn’t get through it if it wasn’t for all the support from the other actors. She explains that everyone in drama is vital to the production, no matter how little their part may be. Furthermore, she concluded that being in drama may be difficult, staying as late as nine o’clock at night on days, but in the end it’s all worth it. Erin also stated that although she loves theatre, she does not see it in her future as a career but if in college drama club is an option, she will gladly participate.

Everyone who went to support the play and see it all loved it, including sophomore Emma Mortelliti. Emma went to all 3 nights of play and was absolutely obsessed with it. She exclaims that her favorite part of the play was the opening scene which foreshadowed the rest of the play. Not only did she go to support the lead, Will Katarzis but she admitted she is genuinely obsessed with drama. Emma really enjoyed the ending of play and felt as though it left the audience wanting more!