When the curtain falls on May 10, the seniors in the Herndon High drama department will take the bows on the high school stage for the last time. Here are the stories of three of the cast's most senior members:
<b>THE ROOKIE</b>
Jacob McMahon's parents figured he would spend the last six months of his high school career lounging by their pool or hanging out with his friends. And who could blame him, if he did. After four years and countless hours of soccer practice and homework, the 17 year old seemed due for a break. Instead, McMahon traded in his soccer cleats for a new pair of dancing shoes. "I guess a lot of seniors coast their last semester," he said.
There would be no coasting for this Hornet senior. "I wanted to try something new."
When his soccer season ended this winter, McMahon, a right halfback on the Herndon High team, turned his attention to the stage. In February, he tried out for Herndon's production of "Footloose."
"I was never more nervous in my life," McMahon said, of the audition process.
After a long weekend of waiting, McMahon secured a spot as a member of the ensemble. "Waiting to hear was so painful. I didn't care about the part, I just wanted to be part of the show," he said. "That was a really long weekend."
McMahon caught the eye of the play's director, John Wapham, the Herndon High drama teacher. "He was quite a find."
Wapham said he was excited to see McMahon come out for the play because of his energy and enthusiasm. "He is really trying to stretch himself by doing something he really hasn't done before," Wapham said. "You don't see that often with a senior guy, especially considering it's a dance show. Not a lot of guys would do that but he just went for it."
Dancing is in his blood. McMahon's mom, who is from Chile, taught her son to dance. She taught her son four different Spanish styles, including Salsa and Flamenco. "It's part of my culture and part of who I am," McMahon said. "I've always loved to dance."
He says he surprised a lot of people, including his friends and family, when he told them he was going out for the play. He has seen a few Broadway musicals ("West Side Story" is his favorite), but he has never seen a high school production at Herndon, or any other high school for that matter. "It's better than I could have imagined," he said during a recent rehearsal. "It's just a very laid-back atmosphere here."
Sports like soccer depend on teamwork and trust, it is no different in theater, McMahon, the athlete-turned-budding thespian, said. "In fact, there is more unity in drama than in sports."
"When you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. People are all real helpful and they show you what you did wrong," he said. "It's a great learning environment."
Much of the unity comes from the absence of ego, McMahon said. From the stage hands to the leads, nobody in the show has a big ego. "We are all one big family and we all get along with each other," McMahon said. "It's not like soccer where you will have players talking back to the coach or demanding more time. That would never happen here."
Accepted at James Madison and Bucknell universities, McMahon is still waiting to hear from Notre Dame, his dream school. While he is happy to have had the experience in drama this year, he is not ready to pursue it as a career. "I wish I had started doing this freshman year, even in junior high," he said. "But, I want to study architecture when I go to school."
McMahon anticipates it being difficult once the curtain comes down for the last time next month. "Especially for the seniors," he said. "The younger guys can say, 'hey, we've got next year.' But, I'll never get to do this again."
<b>THE JOKER</b>
In May, when the curtain goes down after the last showing of the Herndon High School's production of "Footloose," it is liable to be a very emotional night for Molly Buckley. While it will be difficult enough for Buckley to say good-bye to her high school theater career, she will have to do so without her mother, Lynda Van Devanter Buckley, cheering her on in the audience.
Lynda Buckley, a former surgical nurse in Vietnam and an outspoken advocate for women veterans, wrote the book, "Home Before Morning," based on her time in the Vietnam War. Her memoir was the inspiration for the acclaimed television show, "China Beach."
At the age of 55, Lynda Buckley died Nov. 15 at the family's Herndon home. "It's been a tough senior year," Molly Buckley said. "But my mom is my inspiration."
The younger Buckley credits her mom with her own strong stage presence. "She was so strong," she said. "No matter what was going on or how she was feeling, she always wanted to come to my shows."
For "Footloose," Buckley is the utility infielder of the Herndon High drama department. Background, foreground, dancing, singing, she does it all. "Wherever they need me," she said. "I will go there."
Wapham said every play needs someone like Buckley. "She is such a great asset," the director said. "Whatever you need of her, she will do. Some kids, when they are in smaller roles, will just kind of drag on, but Molly really puts all that she has got into whatever part we throw her way."
Buckley will be taking her love for theater with her in the fall when she enrolls at Christopher Newport University where she plans on majoring in musical theater and comedic art. Despite her fondness for her Herndon High drama experience, Buckley is ready to move on and she is looking forward to college. "Oh, I had 'senior-itis' junior year," she admitted. "I am a little ready to get out of here."
While she loves to sing and act on stage, comedy may come more naturally for this 17 year old. Following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, Buckley was voted class clown. Appropriately, Buckley's dream is to some day end up on Saturday Night Live. "I love performing and getting on stage and just becoming a completely different person," Buckley, who got her first big role as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" with the Reston Community Players a few years ago, said. "More than anything, though, I love making people laugh."
Performing on stage has been part of Buckley's life for nine years and she says she can't imagine herself doing anything else. "The stage has centered my life," she said. "I can't imagine sitting at a desk job."
<b>THE LEADER</b>
"This is my home," says Laura Dunlap, looking back at the Herndon High auditorium stage. "I wake up and I can't wait for rehearsals. I lie asleep dreaming about it. What can I say? This is my life."
Dunlap, 17, of Herndon, is getting ready for her last performance as a high school student before the future theater major heads off to Christopher Newport University in the fall.
"It's depressing. I know I am going to be crying after the last show," she said. "I am going to miss it so much. You love it so much that you even miss the back aches."
Not all was easy, however, for Dunlap or her fellow four-year drama veterans. "For a long time, the department was really suffering. We had four teachers in five years. That's tough," she said. "Essentially, we students had to build our own department."
The drama students are like a close-knit family, Dunlap said, adding that the department's instability forced them to come together even more than usual. "I've been going through a tough time and everyone here is always checking to see how I am doing," she said. "They know every bit of my life right down to what I like to eat."
Dunlap credits Whapham, the school's first-year drama teacher, with restoring some stability to the program. "We know Mr. Wapham is going to be here for awhile," she said. "That wasn't the case before."
While the last show promises to be full of emotion for the entire cast, seniors like Dunlap have an extra emotional stake in their final performance. "It's scary," she said. "This is the last time where we know for sure that we have a role and a part. There are no more guarantees after this and that is terrifying."
But Dunlap isn't worried about all of that just yet. The Herndon senior is excited about the way she and her fellow seniors are wrapping up their high school careers. "I love "Footloose," she said. "I really think it's our best musical, yet."
Dunlap, who plays Ariel, the female lead, says the show promises to be "very dynamic and full of different emotions that you don't always see in musicals."
Besides Dunlap is having fun with her character, whom she describes as being, "kind of a slut." "This part is so much fun," she said. "It's been a complete thrill."
Wapham said it has been a pleasure to direct Dunlap in "Footloose." Dunlap is a natural leader who works really hard at including everyone involved in the production, he said. "A lot of times lead actors will get that sort of elitist bent, that is not the case at all with Laura."