By Brendan Raleigh
Round Table editor
In the midst of the 2007 Writers Guild Strike, Joss Whedon, the creator of several network television shows including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”, wrote and directed an online miniseries entitled “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”. The 42-minute musical documents the deeds of aspirant super-villain, Dr. Horrible. Since early January, students of Middletown High School have been working on their own stage adaptation of the critically-acclaimed short film.
Unlike the plays previously performed by the drama department, Dr. Horrible is almost entirely student-produced. While Susan Thornton and Marcia Nicklas have directed the majority of school-sponsored shows, senior Ian Maliszewskyj and junior Megan James are acting independently as the show’s co-directors.
This is not to say, however, that the production is entirely without support from MHS staff. Matt Schmidt, a math teacher at MHS, offered the show his sponsorship, even opting to show up at several of the show’s rehearsals. Social studies teacher Michael Malafarina and science teacher Dan Burr have also given symbolic support to the students’ endeavors. Official approval from the drama department is currently being sought by the directors.
In spite of the aforementioned endorsements, the lack of school support has been the source of some difficulty for the production staff. A non-existent budget has limited the number of props and costumes available to the show. Maliszewskyj also cited the more relaxed atmosphere of the rehearsals as another obstacle, explaining that students were more easily sidetracked knowing that the production was directed by their peers.
Auditions for the lead roles were held on Jan. 10 in the MHS auditorium. Young Kim was cast as the title role of Dr. Horrible, and Isabel Geisler and Sam Terbush were selected to play the supporting roles of Penny and Captain Hammer, respectively.
The tentative performance date is currently May 25, according to Maliszewskyj, although he stated that this is subject to change, depending on the level of approval received from the staff.
