Six CCHS students gave a thought-provoking performance of What I Did Last Summer, a play set during World War II on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, at Arrowhead Center for the Arts on January 26. The play wrestled with such issues as teenage angst, family conflict, classism, and the effects of war. Director Michael McHugh condensed the original two-act, twohour play down to one act in 35 minutes. The team took their act into competition in Duluth January 28 with six other area schools. The actors are identified below.
What I Did Last Summer – the theme of the one-act play performed by Cook County High School students at Arrowhead Center for the Arts Thursday, January 26, 2012 sounds pretty selfexplanatory. But who and what was the play really about?
Was it about Charlie (Alex Ditmanson), a 14-year-old determined to have a fun-filled summer at his family’s summer home on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie while his father was serving in World War II? Charlie seemed to think so.
Was it about Charlie’s mother, Grace (Cailan Carpenter), challenged as a parent of two teenagers and lonely enough to start spending time with another man while waiting and hoping for her husband to return? Grace seemed to think so.
Was it about Charlie’s surly sister Elsie (Sarah Larsen), resentful of the liberties her younger brother takes with rules and behavior? Elsie doesn’t think she gets any consideration at all. “I’ll tell you one thing this play is not about,” she says to the audience. “It’s not about me!”
The play is chock-full of fabulous lines.
Conversations between Charlie and his mother were sure to resonate with parents in the audience:
“Can I drive, Mom?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s against the law.”
Later in the drive, Charlie dares to swear at his mother, who makes him get out of the car and tells him to walk home—and then tells him to get back in.
Grace chastises Charlie for leaving dirty dishes around the kitchen and sandy, wet towels in the bedroom and yells, “You eat twice as much butter as you’re supposed to!”
Elsie doesn’t make it any easier for her mother: “How am I supposed to lose weight if you don’t buy any melon for me?” she wails.
Life isn’t easy for Charlie, either. He has a summertime friend, Ted (Cy Fortunato), who bullies him and competes shamelessly and aggressively for Bonny (Selien Morawitz), the girl he has his eye on. (Bonny also suspects the play might be about her.)
Determined to earn some spending money so he can have the fun he wants to have on summer vacation, Charlie seeks a job with a local woman, an artist known as The Pig Lady(Michaela Peterson). Her lifestyle is very bohemian. She is scorned by much of the local community and lives on the outskirts, both physically and metaphorically. “I will tell you about town,” she says. “I grew up there and I sit and think about it with all the passion of an exile.”
The Pig Lady opens a new world of thinking to Charlie, challenging him to question “proper” society. She asks him what skills he has that might be useful to her, and he tells her he can mow lawns. She doesn’t believe in lawns, however. “Wherever there’s grass,” she retorts, “there’s class.”
When Charlie tells her he can’t work on Wednesdays or Saturdays because of other plans, The Pig Lady exclaims, “I refuse to accommodate myself to the leisure class!”
Charlie goes home and asks his sister, “Have you ever questioned your assumptions about grass?”
“Have you ever questioned your assumptions about setting the table?” Elsie shoots back.
The Pig Lady ends up giving Charlie art lessons, and in the process, he learns to consider new ideas as he learns about art. “All great teachers are dangerous,” The Pig Lady says.
Director Michael McHugh whittled the original two-act, two-hour play down to one act in 35 minutes. “…The first act ends with the idea of making choices that will forever shape and direct our lives,” said McHugh. “I tried to focus the show to tell the story of a boy who’s having to face his future, one that may not include his father, one that may question the values of a class society, and/or one where he decides the importance of truth and life.
“…Overall, I was pleased with our efforts. …I thought our show required real attention to character and nuance. While this may be harder for inexperienced students to wrestle with, it makes for a deeper experience, especially when they revisit their memories of the play later as adults. They will always be discovering their characters.”
The play was written well, directed well, and acted well. Bravo to the actors, Director Michael McHugh, Light/Sound Technician Abigail Sutton, and Special Assistant Sammy Deschampe!
CCHS took the play into competition on January 28 in Duluth, coming in sixth, with Esko taking first place, Moose Lake-Willow River taking second, and Wrenshall, Two Harbors, Marshall, and Floodwood also participating. Michael McHugh’s assessment was this: “The students put on a nice show last Saturday. I felt like they continued to improve and I was pleased overall.”
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