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Arts & Entertainment

PMHS Students Featured in Les Misérables

Kelli McKenna and Robert DeFilippo held ensemble roles in school edition of Gateway Playhouse production.

Two Patchogue-Medford students were featured in Gateway Playhouse's student production of Les Misérables.

Rising senior Kelli McKenna, 17, and rising junior Robert DeFilippo, 16, were in the ensemble playing several of the background roles. McKenna additionally served as understudy for the 'adult' Cosette, a major female role in the play.

It was the first time Gateway Playhouse held a show cast entirely of students with the same production value and professional staff given to its regular season shows, according to the play's director Robin Joy Allan, who also works as the theatre's artistic director.

Allan said 160 young actors  from across Long Island auditioned and 42 were chosen for parts in the play.

On Saturday, the production's closing night, Patchogue Patch caught up with McKenna and DeFilippo to talk about the professional theatre experience and their future plans.

Seventeen-year-old McKenna has been studying acting at Gateway Acting School off and on since she was about 10 years old. As part of the ensemble, McKenna took on about five roles, and made as many costume changes. McKenna is about to begin her senior year at Patchogue-Medford High School. This show marked her debut at Gateway Playhouse.

Patchogue Patch: As part of the ensemble, you had to take on several roles. What were they?

McKenna: I had four or five costume changes. I played various poor people. In the court scene, I was a juror. I was a resident at the inn for the Innkeepers' song. I was a revolutionary and I was a guest at the wedding. At the end, it was back to the revolutionary costume.

PP: What role or roles did you enjoy the most?

McKenna: I liked working with the guys in the barricade scene where I was a woman helper.

PP:
The play takes place during the French Revolution. Did you study this before the show?

McKenna: I studied the French Revolution in World History. The show was about how really intense it was.

PP: What were the challenges of working as part of the ensemble?

McKenna: The timeline goes in ten year spans. The challenge is making up your own story for each life because it can't be the same character because of the time lapses. You have to find something new for each character. That is what your purpose is in being there.

PP: Did you become close with the other cast members?

McKenna:
I have been friends with everyone. In the cast, everyone bonds and it's like a family because you spend so much time together.

PP:
What attracted you to the character of Cosette?

McKenna:
She's very innocent and pure, and someone I have always wanted to play. I'm a high soprano.

PP:
What was auditioning for the role like?

McKenna: The first audition was very nerve-wracking, but then I got more confident with it.

PP:
What prep did you have to go through to be the understudy for Cosette?

McKenna:
I learned all of the music and all of the characteristics that she would need. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play her, but the girl who played her [Brenda Birkeland] was very talented.

PP:
What other acting have you done? What do you think the future holds for you in terms of acting?

McKenna:
I was in Urinetown, Seussical and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the high school. I've done Creative Ministries in Oakdale, where I was in Scrooge, and Airport Playhouse in Bohemia where I did High School Musical. I plan on taking acting [at Gateway] in the fall to get ready for college. I plan to continue acting at the high school, too.

PP:
Where do you hope to attend college?

McKenna: Carnegie Mellon. In a perfect world, that is where I would want to go, but it is very expensive and hard to get into. But you have to set your goals high.

DeFilippo is about to enter 11th grade at Patchogue-Medford High School. This was his first show.

PP: How did you prepare for your first role, which was, in fact, many roles?

DeFilippo:
I took two years of classes [at Gateway] and during a hiatus, I took private vocal lessons.

PP: What was your favorite role?

DeFilippo:
I liked playing the student and the revolutionary because they were basically the same person. You take the ideals that are something that you would stand up for in real life and project it through your character. It makes your acting more powerful, and you feel something. It is symbolic, dying for a cause. And when you die for a cause [on stage], you feel what you would feel in your real life.

PP: When did you first get bitten by the acting bug?

DeFilippo: When I saw Wicked on Broadway. It's the best show. I said I have to be in that one day. I knew from the moment that the overture started.

PP:
What are your future plans in terms of acting?

DeFilippo:
I would like to be in Gateway's Haunted House and A Christmas Carol because of the professional experience.

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