Four students from Garden City High School participated in the 50th Annual Hofstra University Shakespeare Festival Scene Competition under the direction of Theater Arts teacher Laura Rebecca. Senior Cristina Krener, juniors Jessica Kulesa and Maureen O'Gara, and sophomore Diane Jenkins performed a scene from Much Ado About Nothing. O'Gara, who played Hero, took home the award for Best Actor. Garden City Life spoke with O'Gara about her success and her work in theater groups in the community.

"Ever since I can remember I've been interested in acting," O'Gara noted. At Garden City High School, O'Gara is enrolled in Theater Arts II and participates in Masquers, the student theater arts club, which performs several student directed and produced plays each year. Outside of school, she takes classes at Way Off Broadway in Merrick and takes singing lessons once a week. She also directs the Village Players of Garden City.

She modestly stated that she's had "small parts" in such Masquers productions as The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Guys and Dolls, and Dracula. In the upcoming Masquers production of Damn Yankees, she'll be playing the role of Miss Jane Weston. (For more about Damn Yankees please see page three.) O'Gara said working on the Masquers shows is "always a lot of fun" and added that the advantages of the Masquers' system of having a different student director for each play affords the actors a unique opportunity to study the strengths of each and see what works and what doesn't. She also noted that in the Theater Arts classes, the scenes the students work on for class are always student directed, so the students are prepared to act under the direction of their peers in Masquers, as they've grown used to this practice.

She says of her own directing for the Village Players, "I really like giving someone the scene and seeing what they can do with it." Her greatest challenge she said comes when she's conducting auditions, as many of the actors trying out for parts are friends. "Fortunately, there's an entire committee that helps me. I get more nervous when I'm the director than when I'm auditioning myself for shows. I know I'll be objective, but it's hard to tell someone that there isn't a part for them," she commented.

The Village Players are currently preparing for Ten Little Indians, which will be performed in June. Auditions for the show will be held at the end of this month. The Village Players also do two shows in the fall.

In preparing for her award winning performance, she says she had to do "lots of memorization." She added that playing Hero was interesting to her, particularly the scene they performed, as, "this scene was contrary to the character. She's more of the sweet and innocent type and she breaks from her own nature in this scene. We did the scene where Hero is talking to Ursula, who's listening to Benedict." O'Gara also said, "I didn't really fully understand who the character was from just looking at this scene. It wasn't until I read the whole play that I could see who she was. Hero was the best part I ever played."

This scene was directed by her teacher Laura Rebecca, which was a switch for O'Gara and her fellow students, who are used to peer direction. "I've known Ms. Rbecca since my freshman year, but I've never acted with her directing me before. I have an interest in directing, so it was interesting to watch her and I learned a lot from her."

Preparing for the scene in Hofstra's John Cranford Adams Playhouse was an interesting experience, O'Gara explained, particularly since the set for King Lear was up on the stage for the Shakespeare Festival performances. The set, which was constructed as a sloping rock face, presented challenges to the cast, according to O'Gara. "We were sitting on a bench, which kept sliding and tilting and I kept thinking I was going to fall into the audience, but you just have to keep going and not think about it," she said.

Pre-performance jitters also played a role. "I was so nervous I couldn't sleep the night before. I had to go to school before the competition and I was shaking through school. Once I got out there on stage I was like, 'Wow!' The Playhouse is so intimidating. It's so big and nice and so different from what I'm used to, but once the scene began I just got into the character," she explained.

She concluded by saying that really the best part of working on the scene was working closely with her friends. Diane Jenkins, who played Ursula, and O'Gara have become close through school and the theater and worked closely in this scene. By having her peers and her teacher with her she said it made it more comfortable and a fun experience.