[I had planned to post a selection of published articles on two plays that attracted an unusual kind of attention that redounded to their benefit in terms of positive word of mouth. One is the now-Broadway musical Be More Chill by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz, which came out of obscurity in Red Bank, New Jersey, to delight audiences Off-Broadway in New York City and move to Broadway. The other is a high school play—that’s right, a teenage student production—adapted from the 1979 science-fiction movie thriller Alien.
[Both productions got viral
play on social media and I was going to try to cover this 21st-century
phenomenon that may be the harbinger of things to come in terms of publicizing
a stage production, professional or amateur.
Word of mouth has always been an important way a play gets attention
from prospective theatergoers, but social media has made that spectator-to-spectator
communication much more potent.
[When I started to prepare my
selection for the combined post, however, I heard an announcement that Alien: The Play, the New Jersey high school production,
which had only had two performances in its original run (Tuesday, 19 March, and Friday, 22 March 2019), would get an encore
because of the social media coverage. I
decided to save Be More Chill for another
slot on Rick
On Theater and devote this post entirely
to the wonderful phenomenon of North Bergen High School’s Alien: The Play.
Kudos to one and all in North Bergen, New Jersey! You all done real good—and I’m a former
middle and high school theater teacher and director. ~Rick]
“School’s ‘Alien’ Slays Internet”
by Dave Itzkoff
[Itzkoff’s article was the first report I read on the
reception North Bergen High’s Alien:
The Play got in its brief appearance on
the stage. It was published in the New York Times of 27 March 2019 in the “Arts” section.]
There are those
perennial stage works that are perfectly suited to be performed in high schools
across the country every year: say, “Our Town,” “The Crucible,” “Annie” or “The
Wizard of Oz.”
And now, to this
canon, you might add “Alien.”
A New Jersey high
school has found itself the unexpected recipient of online acclaim and viral
attention for its recent stage production of “Alien,” the 1979 science-fiction
thriller.
“Alien: The Play,”
presented last weekend by the drama club of North Bergen High School, starred a
cast of eight students in the film roles originally played by Sigourney Weaver,
Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Ian Holm.
Whereas the movie had
a budget in the range of about $10 million, “Alien: The Play” had costumes,
props and set designs made mostly from donated and recycled materials.
Both the film and the
stage adaptation feature a nightmarish extraterrestrial designed by the artist
H.R. Giger — played, in this production, by a high school student.
“Alien: The Play” is
the brainchild of Perfecto Cuervo, an English teacher at the school and the
moderator of its drama club, and Steven Defendini, an art teacher there.
Last year, the two teachers
worked together on a student staging of “Night of the Living Dead,” the George
Romero zombie movie [1968]. This past summer, they started to plan a follow-up.
As Mr. Cuervo
recalled their conversation, he said, “Do you think we can do ‘Alien’ as a
play?” It seemed to require few sets, he said: “We have a spaceship. We have a
planet. It could be handled.”
Mr. Defendini said he
answered, “I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know if we can do that. But we’re
going to do that.”
The original “Alien”
was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon. Released by 20th
Century Fox, it is a claustrophobic horror film about the crew of a small
outer-space vessel that encounters an unwelcome, nonhuman stowaway that has
come to be known as the xenomorph. (Spoiler alert: The story doesn’t end well
for most of them.)
The film was a
substantial hit, critically and commercially, that burrowed itself deep in the
cultural consciousness and started a decades-long film franchise.
Mr. Cuervo, who
directed the students’ version, said he spent about a month and a half adapting
it from the film. Casting took place in November; the crucial role of Ripley
(the Sigourney Weaver character) went to Gabriella Delacruz, a senior at the
school.
Ms. Delacruz, who had
been in the school’s “Night of the Living Dead,” said that she was proud to
carry on the feminist tradition that Ripley represents.
“She’s a female
character who’s really portrayed as the hero at the end,” she said. “She isn’t
the damsel in distress. She got to be a badass, if I’m allowed to say that.”
Xavier Perez, a
sophomore, was chosen to play the xenomorph. “When we did the casting,” Mr.
Cuervo said, “there was one person that showed up — a tall, skinny kid. I told
him, ‘Well, I guess you’re it. You’ve got the part.’”
Rehearsals began in
December, while Mr. Defendini, the play’s art director, oversaw the creation of
exotic terrains and spaceship interiors, trying as best as possible to
reproduce the aesthetic of the film.
“Some of the walls
are covered in egg crates, not because it was the cheapest solution but because
it was the most authentic,” Mr. Defendini said.
Using a variety of
materials, some of which were donated by Tom Carroll Scenery, a stage
production and design shop in Jersey City, the teachers estimated the total
cost of the play was under $3,500.
The performances
relied on an additional six student crew members, plus another five to ten who
helped operate sound boards and lights and supply other special effects.
“We had four kids on
laptops, doing sound effects, ambient noises and alien noises,” Mr. Cuervo
said. “We used a lot of the band kids, because they know how to play
instruments and they were really good with the cues.”
Though the original “Alien”
movie is about to turn 40 years old, Mr. Defendini said its characters still
resonated with his teenage students, who know its monsters from video games,
pop-cultural lore and recent sequels like “Alien: Covenant.”
“We had kids in the
crew who knew the specific genesis and species of the xenomorph,” he said. “What
gender it is, what planet it’s from. Everything you could know.”
Asked if the drama
club had sought official permission to present the play, Mr. Cuervo said, “Our
main goal was really just to put on a great play for the kids, just get them
out, stage front.”
(The Fox film studio
was acquired earlier this month by the Walt Disney Company. A press
representative for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.)
“Alien: The Play” has
drawn widespread praise on social media; an official promotional Twitter
account for the “Alien” franchise said, “We are impressed! 40 years and still
going strong …” and “Bravo!”
The comedian Patton
Oswalt wrote, “This is fantastic. Blows my high school’s adaptation of PINK
FLAMINGOS out of the water.”
An online trailer has
received more than 130,000 views on YouTube, and the production was covered on
news sites like The Verge and The AV Club.
Mr. Defendini pointed
out that a tweet about “Alien: The Play,” posted by Leslye Headland, a
co-creator of the Netflix series “Russian Doll,” had been liked by Joss Whedon,
the writer and director of “The Avengers.”
That, he said, was
sufficient validation for the students.
“For them, that’s
enough, to be acknowledged by their favorite movie director,” Mr. Defendini
said. “For a bunch of high school kids, I can’t imagine what it’s like to see
how much recognition they’re getting for seven months of hard work.”
*
* * *
“Sigourney Weaver Thinks High
School Production of ‘Alien’ is Out of This World!”
by Josh
Wells
[A TV news story I saw reported that actress Sigourney
Weaver, the star of the original film, had praised the North Bergen cast and
company for their work to create the stage adaptation of the movie on Instagram.
The video and Josh Wells’s article on Weaver’s congratulations was posted
on The Blast on 28 March at https://theblast.com/sigourney-weaver-alien-high-school-play/.]
It wasn’t long after
a New Jersey high school put on their production of ‘Alien’ (yes, the 1979
Ridley Scott classic), that the internet erupted in praise faster than a chest
burster. And now, Ripley herself is showering the kids with praise.
Sigourney Weaver, who
played badass-Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, took to social media and applauded the
students at North Bergen High School.
“It looked
incredible. You put so much heart and soul into it,” Sigourney said in a video
posted to the Alien Anthology Instagram page. She added, “The alien, I must
say, looked very real to me.”
“Alien: The Play”,
was presented by North Bergen High School, and it cast eight students to play
the film roles originally by Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Tom
Skerritt.
Sigourney goes on to
say she is delivering her blessing on behalf of the film’s screenwriter Walter
Hill, and the director of ‘Aliens’, James Cameron.
She ends her digital
blessing with a tongue-in-cheek warning that the alien might still be alive,
and “when opening your locker, do it very slowly”.
Hopefully she’s
right, and next year we get to see a cat, a cyborg named Bishop, and flame
throwers!
*
* * *
“New Jersey high school’s celebrated ‘Alien’
play gets encore”
The Associated Press
[ABC News aired a report on the revival of the two-performance
run of Alien: The Play on 16 April,
the text of which is available at https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jersey-high-schools-celebrated-alien-play-encore-62434909.]
A New Jersey high
schools stage production of Alien is coming back with help from the 1979 films
director, Ridley Scott.
Alien: The Play was
performed last month at North Bergen High School, which sits about 2 miles (3
kilometers) from the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City.
Images of the
productions elaborate sets and special effects drew a huge response online, and
Scott wrote a letter to the school praising the students creativity.
Sigourney Weaver
played the character Ellen Ripley in the movie that spawned a franchise. She
taped a YouTube video in which she called the production “incredible.”
The plays director,
teacher Perfecto Cuervo, said in an email that Scotts production company
provided $5,000 so the school could put on an encore performance April 26.
“Date announced for North Bergen High School’s
‘Alien’ encore performance”
by Jim
Beckerman
[Jim Beckerman reported on the encore performance in
the North Bergen Record on 15 April (https://www.northjersey.com/story/entertainment/2019/04/15/north-bergen-high-school-alien-play-dates-announced/3473715002/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=amp&utm_campaign=speakable),
providing a few additional details.]
It’s official. “Alien”
has a sequel.
There will be an
encore performance of the stage version of the classic 1979 sci-fi movie, which
became a viral sensation when some enterprising North Bergen High School
students produced it with eye-popping sets and effects.
On April 26 at 8
p.m., North Bergen will reprise the show, which was staged for only two
performances in March. Those performances caused a tsunami of interest when a
video posted the weekend of March 23 got some 3 million hits.
“We’re excited to be
able to do it again,” said Brian Bonacci, a staff music teacher who did the
lighting for the show.
People were bowled
over by the technical sophistication and the ambitious look of this production,
which was done for a modest $3,500 and made generous use of recycled materials.
Ridley Scott, the director of the original film, and Sigourney Weaver, the
original star, sent congratulations.
“It’s just been
crazy,” said director-writer Perfecto Cuervo. “I don’t know if you ever get
used to the attention, to be honest. But the kids are taking it in stride.”
Luckily, Cuervo and
his drama club team saved their amazing set and costumes, which included a
15-foot “space jockey” and a hideous toothy “xenormorph” that exactly
correspond to the ones in the film.
“Alien” will be
staged at the North Bergen High School Auditorium, 7417 J.F.K. Boulevard, North
Bergen. How many tickets will be on sale, and where people can get them, are
details still to be worked out.
“We definitely have
some tickets earmarked for any celebrities who might come,” Cuervo said.
“High School Production of Alien Will
Get Encore Performance”
by Adam
Hetrick
[In Playbill on 15 April (http://www.playbill.com/article/high-school-production-of-alien-will-get-encore-performance),
Adam Hedrick added other interesting points coincidental to the re-mounting of
North Bergen High’s Alien: The Play.]
North
Bergen High School’s production of Alien: The Play, which drew
praise from original film director Ridley Scott, will receive an encore performance
on “Alien Day.”
North Bergan High
School’s elaborate stage production of the 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien, which made headlines last month after
video footage went viral, will get an encore performance on April 26.
The date is known
to Alien fans as “Alien Day,” and coincides with the film’s
40th anniversary. The news was announced on the franchise’s official Twitter account.
Twentieth Century
Fox, which produced the lucrative film franchise, is also set to release a
slate of Alien-related media that day, including new books on the
making of the film, a series of Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts,
comics, action figures, and 40th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD re-release of the
film.
Fox is also slated to
make some surprise announcements on that date, including a new project with
Audible.
* * * *
“Sigourney Weaver makes appearance at North Bergen H.S. production of 'Alien' on Friday”
by Jim Beckerman
[ADDENDUM (27 July 2019): The encore performance of Alien: The Play at North Bergen High School took place as planned on Friday, 26 April, the 40th anniversary of the release of the 1979 film. In attendance was Sigourney Weaver, the actress who played the lead in the sci-fi classic. Here's the coverage from the North Bergen Record, the local newspaper, of that performance and the cast's response to the surprise audience member.]
The biggest sensation of "Alien," the much-talked-about North Bergen High School play that got an encore performance Friday night, was not the flashing, rumbling special effects, the incredible sets made of flotsam and jetsam, the monsters popping out of chests, or even the alien itself, stalking people in the aisle seats.
The biggest sensation was Sigourney Weaver, in person — the star of the original 1979 movie "Alien," who made a special trip to North Bergen to give her blessing.
"How exciting is it to be here tonight?" Weaver said, before the curtain rose, as the overflow crowd of 800 in the school auditorium went wild.
As you probably know, this "Alien" became a viral sensation when someone posted video of the original performance in late March. The video got some 3 million hits — and the geek-o-sphere has been going crazy ever since.
"This is the night I've been waiting for!" Weaver told the crowd. "I've only been here a couple of hours, but I can tell this is a very special place in a very special town, and in a school like this you have extraordinary teachers…I met the students and I want to say they are so great."
Also, how excited people have been since director-writer Perfecto Cuervo, who conceived what was supposed to be a one-off performance, announced earlier this month the encore staging Friday night.
There are other signs that this "Alien" is extraordinary. The fact, for starters, that Ridley Scott, the director of the 1979 film, donated $5,000 to the school after hearing about the show.
The fact that the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts has announced it is awarding $1,000 scholarships to all the cast and crew (a few will get $10,000 scholarships).
Marc Zicree, a writer who has worked on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," flew all the way from Los Angeles to see the production and cheer on the students. And Sam Mercer, of Vienna, Virginia, drove five hours to North Bergen to see it, not even knowing whether he could get a ticket (he snagged one at the last minute). "I didn't think I was going to get in until one minute before the play," he said.
The amazing thing about the show is not just the sophistication, the imagination, the technical brilliance of the show, but the fact that Cuervo, his team, and his actors made it out of almost nothing.
It was staged for a modest $3,500 (most big high school shows cost in the neighborhood of $20,000). The incredible-looking sets were made mostly from odds and ends. The fact that North Bergen High School doesn't even have a theater department speaks to the determination, resourcefulness, and sheer will of the students and faculty who were going to do this show, no matter what.
That's why the New York Conservatory is all in when it comes to these students. "We're trying to fund schools where the students really want to do this for a living, who are serious," said Bryce Russell, director of admissions for the New York Conservatory.
These students are serious, all right. The audience may have come just to wish a bunch of ambitious kids well. But as each expertly timed shock landed on cue, the audience laughed, cheered, and screamed, exactly as if they were at a professional Broadway play.
So is even this the end? What, after all, would "Alien" be without sequels?
There are no plans, Cuervo said, for more performances. But then again, with this play, there never are. "Formally, this is the last show," Cuervo said Friday night. "But we're definitely open to more."
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