I moved to Virginia in the summer before my freshman year. Westfield High School was brand new, and my first introduction to the social scene of high school was through the theatre department. It was there that I met the friends that would redefine my life, and through theatre I became more skilled, more confident, and more knowledgeable of the different areas of the theatrical arts.
Being heavily involved in theatre for all four years of high school has created so many different kinds of relationships for me. I have become more familiar with Westfield’s administration, my fellow students, and the faculty, as have many of my friends in drama. Although the biggest benefit of theatre by far is being able to learn how to accurately express myself, making a name for myself is one of the perks. In general, the theatre department is respected and applauded by the students of Westfield, which may not be the case in other schools around the county.
Of course, an article about theatre at Westfield could not be written without mentioning the man behind the scenes (and in some cases, in front of them). Scott D. Pafumi, the theatre teacher at Westfield, has been so much more than a teacher to me; he has become a friend, someone I can confide in or bounce ideas off of. He has done his best to properly educate all of his students about every style of acting, from Commedia del Arte to Shakespearean drama, from improvisational comedy to melodramatic soap operas. As an ensemble, we have tackled many different types of mainstage shows in different genres, starting with "The Glass Menagerie" up to our current production of "You Can’t Take It With You." "Godspell" was our first musical, and it was so successful that it went on to win four Cappies in 2002, including Best Musical. The following year, we took home three more Cappies for our techno-version of "Hamlet."
Mr. Pafumi loves to challenge us as actors, and seeing us succeed brings him the greatest joy. Every year, the list of activities on our theatre agenda has grown exponentially, and this year is no different. We are home to the county’s championship theatre sports team and a traveling children’s theatre troupe. This season, our department has successfully produced several shows, including several cabarets, a wax museum, the existential comedy "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead," a traveling children’s show for daycare centers, "The Grinch and other Holiday Stories," "A Christmas Carol," Sophocles’ "Oedipus Rex," Steve Martin’s "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," and a student written and directed show called "Le Chateau de Murder," which starred the seniors and was in many ways the culmination of our education in Westfield’s Black Box. Currently, we are hard at work on our spring mainstage show, "You Can’t Take it With You," which will hit the boards May 7-9.
My last four years in Westfield theatre have created some of the best times of my life, and have spawned friendships that I know will endure forever. My fellow seniors and I were the first to spend four years at the new Westfield High School, and we have left a notch on the belt of the school’s history. Unfortunately, come June of this year we will be leaving the department to move on to the proverbial “bigger and better things.” Although it will undoubtedly be very hard to leave behind all that we have started here, it brings a smile to my face when I think of all of the extremely talented underclassmen that will be replacing us to carry on the winning legacy of Westfield theatre.