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Darien's Theatre Muse Directs "The Curious Savage"

Nancy Herman's directs her twenty-ninth Theatre 308 fall play, "The Curious Savage."

Darien High School’s renowned theatre muse is at it again. Nancy Herman’s award-winning Theatre 308 troupe takes to the boards Thursday through Saturday evening to entertain with John Patrick’s 1950s comedy, The Curious Savage.

This is Herman’s twenty-ninth year as a Darien teacher and Director of Theatre 308, so named after its numerical designation as a member of the International Thespian Society in the 1990s.

"I can take no credit for the talent, but I hope I have helped developed students’ love of theatre and inspired their dreams," said Herman.

Inspired her students, Herman has. She’s led performers to win numerous state drama competitions, and launched actors, actresses, dramaturgues, animators and others into professional careers from the Hollywood Hills to the bright lights on Broadway. That’s not to say they don’t come back to visit.

Former student, now professional singer-songwriter Laura Coyle stopped by earlier this week to lend a stage hand in the final days before the curtain raises on the Curious Savage.

And other graduates often pop in to watch a show, Herman said. That is, when they can.

Unfortunately, Antoinette LaVecchia, who is currently performing a one-woman show she wrote, How to Be a Good Italian Daughter (In Spite of Myself) at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre in New York, won’t be in the audience this time. The New York Times raved LaVecchia “has to be seen;” the Italian Tribune called her "a one-woman powerhouse."

Annie Edgerton, also a Theatre 308 alumna, will also be otherwise occupied. She’s in the Broadway cast of Mamma Mia (when she is not singing the national anthem at New York Mets games).

Add to the “sorry can’t make it list,” Broadway performers Matt Porretta of Les Miserables, Andrew Raccanello of Cats, and Associate Dramaturgue for the Ameriacan Repertory Theatre in Cabridge and Boston Globe Theatre Critic Mass Ryan McKittrick.

Herman has directed her students in a fall play and a spring musical, every year since 1980; she also oversees spring productions of student-directed one-act plays. Beyond the context of 308, Herman teaches AP English Literature and Composition, Accelerated English, Drama I and Drama II at DHS.

This year’s fall play, The Curious Savage, was first performed at the Martrin Beck Theatre in New York in 1950; it’s a three-act (compressed to two by Herman) romp, pitting Ethel P. Savage, a recently widowed and slightly eccentric millionheiress, against her three greedy stepchildren.

The 11-member cast has been rehearsing for a few weeks now; just a few short hours of invaluable practice remain. Herman wastes not a second.

"Ethel: whenever you read, wear your glasses," Herman commanded, addressing Elizabeth Leimkuhler and the other students by their character names. "Project your voice!"

"Lilly, I’d love you to be a bleach blonde!" Herman blurted out to Paris LaRock, mindful that opening night was but two nights away. "Wanna look at a wig?"

As she commandeered the stage, Herman had a note for all her players:

"You’ve got to respond to the biggest thing in the room, and you have to respond to what’s going on in the room."

The room, painted in mustard yellow complete with ceiling moldings, a hanging chandelier, a bay window and two doors, was constructed entirely by students.

"We have a phenomenal physical plant and art and music programs at Darien High School," Herman said, "and I would love to see us expand our theatre program to provide enrichment as well as technical preparation for careers in the arts."

Herman would like to see the high school’s theatre program broaden to become its own department, offering Drama III and Drama IV as well as classes in set and lighting design.

Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 19—21 at 8 p.m. at the Darien High School auditorium. Tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors and are available for pre-sale at Barrett Bookstore and at the door.

And with Herman’s students both on stage and in the audience, it’s bound to be a star-studded event.

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