By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—Otter Valley Union High School hosted the 2023 State Drama Festival this past weekend, the first such event since COVID shut the festival down in 2020. Nine high-school theater programs from all around Vermont presented one-act plays, some dramas, some comedies, but all showcasing the prodigious talent that Vermont’s teens have to offer.
Though two of the nine schools would be chosen to advance to the New England Drama Festival in Maine at the end of the month, the spirit among the various troupes at OV this weekend was clearly one of support rather than rivalry. Everyone was there to have fun and put on the best show possible.
OV’s Walking Stick Theater, led by theater-arts teacher Jeff Hull, chose the “The Sparrow” for its Saturday evening slot. The play was written with two acts in 2007 by Nathan Allen, Chris Matthews, and Jake Minton and was condensed into one act by Walking Stick for the festival.
The story centers on Emily Book, the sole survivor of a bus accident that killed the rest of her second-grade class. Emily is sent away to another school for several years but returns to her hometown—Spring Farm, Illinois—for her senior year of high school. Since she has no living family, she’s taken in by the McGuckins, who lost a daughter in the crash and seem to view Emily as a surrogate for their lost child. It’s clear that the town has not processed its grief and that Emily’s presence is stirring up difficult emotions. It’s also clear that Emily herself has been concealing the truth of what happened that day on the bus.
KAYLEE MALOY AS Jenny McGrath, at a painful moment of grief in Walking Stick’s “The Sparrow.” Photo by Steven Jupiter
Through Mr. Christopher, a popular biology teacher whose wife died driving the ill-fated bus, Emily befriends Jenny McGrath, a cheerleader who gets herself into a dangerous situation during a basketball game, hanging from a banner high above the court, out of reach of any available ladder. She’s saved by Emily, who literally flies to the rescue, revealing herself to have supernatural abilities that are triggered by her emotional state. For example, her attraction to Mr. Christopher had caused her to make him dance with her during class. She’d also frozen her classmates during a particularly aggressive game of dodgeball that had made her feel unsafe.
As word of Emily’s powers circulates, people begin to speculate that perhaps she had played a role in the bus accident that killed everyone but her. Jenny asks Emily in front of the biology class whether she killed the second graders. Emily gives her answer by running away. By the time she gets home, word has spread. Joyce McGuckin, Emily’s host mother, finally asks Emily directly if she had caused the accident. Emily confesses but insists she hadn’t intended to force the bus into the path of an oncoming train.
Meanwhile, Jenny confesses her attraction to Mr. Christopher in an empty classroom and they kiss, sending Mr. Christopher into spiraling guilt for having crossed a line with a student.
Mr. Christopher and Emily encounter each other at the town train depot, where both are seeking to flee Spring Farm. Mr. Christopher is now aware of Emily’s role in the death of his wife and encourages her to leave town, even offering her his own train ticket.
ANDREW KENYON AND Pajua Gamba, as Mr. Christopher and Emily Book, in a dance scene. Emily possesses powers that compelled Mr. Christopher, her biology teacher, to break into a dance routine in class. Photo by Steven Jupiter
At that moment, however, the town descends upon the depot, a mob fueled with anger toward Emily. Jenny arrives with a handgun and sees Mr. Christopher protecting Emily. Raging with jealousy, she ends up shooting Mr. Christopher. Emily uses her powers to bring him back to life. Somehow, this one act of resurrection—the saving of this one life in a place where so many young lives had been lost—unlocks the grief that had frozen the town ever since the accident. As Emily slips off to Chicago, the townspeople are finally able to expunge their sorrow and recapture some of the joy of life.
As Emily, Pajua Gamba seemed aged beyond her years, a smart girl burdened by the weight of a tragic secret and confused by powers she can’t fully control. She had the gravitas to keep the production rooted and the audience intrigued. And in the lighter moments, many of them with Mr. Christopher, she was able to show that Emily, even after all she’s been through, is still just a child.
Mr. Christopher was played with great charm by Andrew Kenyon. The role called for broad-strokes humor at first, and Kenyon kept the audience laughing. His free-wheeling dance number with Emily was a comedic highlight of the show. But he reined himself in for the darker, more serious moments, where the depth of Mr. Christopher’s loss became clear and he had to recite lines like “You are all paying for someone else’s mistake.”
Other standouts were Kaylee Maloy as Jenny McGrath, a girl with a darker streak than anyone would’ve guessed, and Lily Morgan as Joyce McGuckin, a mother who can’t let go of her sorrow. Ms. Morgan managed to convey the agony of loss without veering into melodrama.
The rest of the cast was right on point as well, absolutely creating the atmosphere of a town and school that had never healed. There were some very physical scenes that could’ve devolved into chaos, but the cast kept themselves disciplined and kept the audience in the zone. The dance numbers were nicely choreographed and executed as well.
THE CAST AND crew of Walking Stick’s production of “The Sparrow.” Back row (l to r): Jeff Hull (teacher), Hayden Fisher, Katelyn Lee, Eliza Norford, Adia Polli, Jazmin Rivera, Alyssa Raymond, Chloe Mol, Danika Polli, Luke Calvin, Pajua Gamba, Raul Soto, Jaden Grace, Andrew Kenyon, Jordan Bertrand, Ian Miner. Front row (l to r): Colleen Unzelman, Milo Piovano, Cade Landsman, Cebelle Hull, Morgan White, Elyse Singh, Lily Morgan. Not pictured: Dillon Ladd, Calvin Ladd, Sophie Moore, Kaylee Maloy, Chloe Derepentigny
Visually, the production was wildly inventive. Characters held framed photos of houses to represent the homes in the village and framed photos of children to represent the victims of the accident. Characters periodically stood in front of rear-projected videos that depicted memories and internal emotional states. The videos were credited in the program to Andrew Kenyon (who played Mr. Christopher). Jeff Hull, OV’s theater-arts teacher, put together an impressive production and coaxed terrific, tight performances from his cast.
“Otter Valley did great. Really,” said Harry McEnerny, one of the “adjudicators” of the festival and a Brandon resident who recently retired as Chair of the Theater Department at Castleton. “Nine schools brought shows, and they were all high quality.”
Ultimately, OV is not one of the two schools that will attend the New England Drama Festival, but the Walking Stick program should be very proud of itself and its effort in the Vermont event.
