Authenticity key to Pankow Center’s ‘Mean Girls’

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — There is always a challenge to be had between balancing authenticity and heightened reality when approaching musical theater. In the Frederick V. Pankow Center’s upcoming production of “Mean Girls: High School Version,” cast and crew alike aim to strike that balance in flying color — the color, of course, being pink.

One of the most iconic media properties of the 21st century, “Mean Girls” claimed its spot in the zeitgeist as a 2004 Lindsay Lohan movie directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. After 20 years, “Mean Girls” and its story of Cady Heron running up against the notorious Regina George and the Plastics clique has yet to exit cultural discussions. It returned to movie theaters this year as a musical based on a 2017 stage adaption that ran for over 800 performances on Broadway.

In a unique move for high-school-focused productions, Pankow Center theater teacher Greg Trzaskoma received an unedited version of the Broadway script alongside a slate of Fey-endorsed edits schools could use at will. Trzaskoma opted to use some of Fey’s suggestions and believes the changed script will not detract from a story that hits close to home for many high schoolers.

“It’s about one special junior year at a suburban high school, and the themes, the ideas that it is about — it’s about bullying, it’s about relational aggression, it’s about families and parenting and high school and teenage substance abuse — (are) a lot of things that kids in our program are dealing with in their lives,” Trzaskoma said. “The theater for much of its existence has been a place for us to publicly discuss difficult things in a safe way. This musical is no exception. It’s a lot of fun but there’s a lot of really serious, honest, truthful, real stuff being dealt with in the fantasy of a musical.”

Supported by students from the moment it was suggested, “Mean Girls” has seen students putting in the work both on stage and behind the scenes to bring North Shore High School to L’Anse Ceruse. Projections of hallways from the district’s North and Harrison Township high schools will serve as backdrops for a number of scenes while cafeteria tables from the district’s storage have been drafted to serve as set pieces.

“There’s a level of authenticity throughout the thing,” Trzaskoma said. “The original film was mostly folks somewhere north of age 18. We’re telling a story about younger people and kids that are living it every day are telling their story. Almost every rehearsal there’s some comment, some reflection, somebody opens up and says, ‘That happened to me,’ or, ‘I know somebody who went through that,’ or, ‘I understand that because of my sister, my brother, my best friend, etc.’”

Student actors’ experiences with bullying and navigating the cutthroat world of school-age social scenes inform their approach to the material. August Rau, a 17-year-old L’Anse Creuse High School North senior playing George’s ex-friend Janis Sarkisian, faced bullying after having a tooth shaved down. London Baffield, a 17-year-old L’Anse Creuse High School North senior playing the Plastic clique’s second in command Gretchen Wieners, had dealt with bullies throughout middle school before transferring into the L’Anse Creuse district.

“When I was in middle school, I actually got bullied a lot for just being weird, for not having friends, for having acne, just little things like that,” said Payton Houle, a 17-year-old L’Anse Ceruse High School North senior playing George. “Middle school kids at that time, I guess, couldn’t fathom that it’s actually mean. You’re going to be with these people for a few more years of your life and then you’ll not be around them, and you might regret not the things that you’ve said. That bothered me coming into high school. That made me not want to be on stage and not even think about doing a show. And then I joined theater, and I met so many nice people … I really appreciate the community that we have in this theater program with Pankow performing arts theater class and with this cast as a whole. I wouldn’t have met London. I wouldn’t have met so many people that aren’t in the program. I wouldn’t have met Autumn Santos because I wouldn’t have done ‘Footloose.’ Bullying can lead to horrible things, but it can also really change your life for the best.”

Bonding between cast members over their shared negative experiences, as well as their time in the theater, has been essential to the production process. The “Mean Girls” cast and crew is larger than prior Pankow Center productions — Rau says around 45 students are involved on either side of the curtain while prior productions had casts of around 10 students — and Trzaskoma is getting to grips in his second year as a Pankow Center teacher.

“The first year’s goals were to survive,” Trzaskoma said. “The second year’s teaching goals are to thrive.”

Baffield gave Trzaskoma a ringing endorsement.

“I have never worked with a director that was not for the LCHS choir, so this is my first production ever outside of my high school and I just have to congratulate Trzaskoma,” Baffield said. “Trzaskoma is one of the best directors I’ve ever had. He gives so many good ideas and I feel better about my acting any time I work with him.”

As students and staff prepare to tell a story that rings close to home, their goal is to leave audiences with a simple message: It is easy to be nice.

“I really think that this will teach the audience that it doesn’t take a lot to be nice to someone, but also it’s really easy to be mean to someone,” Houle said. “There’s a big difference between the two but sometimes they come so close that it’s hard to tell the difference.”

“Mean Girls: High School Version” will play at the John R. Armstrong Performing Arts Center on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. General admission is $14 and $10 for seniors, students, and L’Anse Creuse Public Schools faculty and staff. A talkback with the cast will be held after both performances.