(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring future alums, appeared in This Week in Bexley on August 28, 2003.)

Bexley ensemble earns high praise
By INA HORWITZ-WHITMORE
This Week Staff Writer

British and Scottish newspapers gave favorable reviews to the Bexley High School theatre ensemble’s production, “Once on This Island,” which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The ensemble, under the direction of drama director Todd Adam Decker, recently returned from the prestigious festival in Scotland.

The troupe consisted of 13 BHS students, sophomores through graduating seniors. They were accompanied by a choreographer, a technical director and four musicians. 

Cast, crew and directors included Christa Price, Molly Margulies, Brock Forsbloom, Liz Fulford, Madison Gentry, Adam Horton, Davey Ballantine, Tom Storer, Amy Gardner, Anne Kessler, Lucas Ward, Shani Hadjian, Elizabeth Berardi, David White, Sue White, Dana White, Jordan Lynch, Peter Caborn, Heather Ellis, Decker, Susan Plaisted, Molly Ballantine, Larry Dibble and Dawn Summers-Dibble.

The trip, which included four days in London, began July 27 and ended Aug. 12.  The festival included high school and professional companies and community theatre companies.         

According to Decker, the festival drew large crowds, and the judges were reviewers from various British and Scottish newspapers.  Many reviews can be found on the festival Web site: www.edfringe.com.   

During the event, Bexley students performed every other day on what is known as the Royal Mile, an area between the Royal Residency and the Military Castle.   

Decker said performing on the Royal Mile  ---  the heart of the festival --- was a great honor.  Most other performances were presented a good distance away from that area.  

“Once Upon This Island” is a musical based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of “The Little Mermaid.” The show is set in Haiti.

Decker said the festival didn’t have space in the style seen in this country.  “Rather, found space is used and the theatres are created in them,” he said.  Spaces were used in hotel conference rooms and ballrooms.

The Bexley ensemble performed at the Crowne Plaza, a hotel first built in Denmark and then torn down and rebuilt in Edinburgh.

The play always received a strong reception at the festival, with at least 100 audience members at each performance, Decker said.

The troupe stayed in dorm rooms at the University of Edinburgh.  Almost every day, the ensemble did street performances to promote the show.

The play got a great response and was referred to by a critic as the ‘gem of the American high school theatre productions,”’ Decker said.

The American High School division included 20 shows and 600 students.

Decker, who was participating in the third production he had taken to the festival, said the cast was proud of its achievements.

The Bexley ensemble attended a number of performances by peers.

“Students could see how they could continue to raise the bar, even when performing at the national level,” Decker said.

Lucas Ward, a 2002 BHS graduate who will be enrolling in the theatre program at Kent State University, said performing at the festival was a whole new experience.

“Here, you know most of the people in the crowd,” Ward said. “There, it is so much different. You had a two-hour time slot to set up and focus on the show.

“There was no mingling with the crowd, and when we were done, we had 10 minutes to get out.”

Ward said performing at the event was “an adrenaline rush. It was exciting and full of energy — a whole new kind of theatre experience.”

Decker, who had previously taken productions from Fort Hayes Arts & Academic High School to Scotland, said the Bexley ensemble was the best production and ensemble group he has taken to the festival.

‘I'm really proud and excited about how far the drama department at Bexley has come this year,” he said. “We went from a low-profile theatre program to international acclaim, and for the community and students to pull together to produce this great show is an amazing thing.”

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