All About "Red Speedo"
The students and staff of Stage One, the drama club of PVMHS, have been working hard to bring us their most recent play, “Red Speedo” by Lucas Hnath. In the play, Matteo Vieira stars as Ray, a professional swimmer on the cusp of making it to the Olympics. Alex Serino plays Peter, Ray’s brother and lawyer. Aidan Leach portrays the strict coach who always wants to win and Kaelen Govaert plays Lydia, a girl who wants to be a better person. All of these characters come together in a story about doing anything in order to win.
The scenes are brought together by both blackouts and an air horn. Also, whenever Matteo puts in his AirPods, the song “You Got It” by Roy Orbison plays. When asked about the song, running crew member Adam Cunha says, “Everyone really likes the song. We even had the song play during the dance party at prelims and everyone danced around.”
A lot of the behind the scenes moments make the effort worthwhile for the running crew. Here are a few fun facts about different scenes:
- When Matteo dives into the pool, there’s a Yogibo bean bag at the bottom and whenever he jumps on it, it makes a noise. The splash noise is used to cover it up.
- Milk and Gatorade in tubs are used to make Matteo appear as if he’s just been in a pool. The material also shows and sticks more than just normal water, making it more realistic.
- There are people underneath the set who do lights and water. They help Matteo and assist during the drowning scene as Alex splashes water onto his face.
At the end of the play, many people in the audience were disappointed to find that it was over so soon. Because of the time limit for DramaFest, the play was reduced to lasting only around 40 minutes.
For the sixth year in a row, Stage One has advanced to the final round of DramaFest. Along with thirteen other schools, they will perform their show at John Hancock Hall in Boston later this week. “Red Speedo” is scheduled to be performed on Thursday, March 28 at 7:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at this link.
Additionally, Stage One will be having one last home performance here at PVMHS on Monday, April 1 at 7:00 P.M.
