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Hip Hop team brings ‘Mean Girls’ to Bonaventure

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By Andrea Fernandes

Staff Writer 

 

    “Mean girls” from North Shore High hopped over to Bonaventure this week.

    Laughter and skillful dancing filled the  Rigas Family Theater in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Tuesday and Wednesday as the St. Bonaventure Hip Hop Team presented “Bona’s is Full of Mean Girls,” based on the 2004 film “Mean Girls.”

     The team performed its version of “Mean Girls.” Students, family and faculty members came out to support the team’s performance.

      The most memorable scenes from the movie were portrayed in the show.          The only difference between the movie and the show was the setting. Instead of everything taking place at a high school, it all took place right at St. Bonaventure. This allowed some students to identify more with the show. Students who attended found it funny and entertaining.

     The show centers on the experiences faced by transfer student Cady Heron, played by junior Jade Padula. Cady quickly learns about the cliques at Bonaventure, the most powerful being The Plastics. The Plastics are led by Regina George, played by junior Jacqueline Gertner. The other two Plastics, Karen Smith and Gretchen Wieners were played by senior Meghan Meehan and sophomore Becca Goess respectively.

   The dances, which were choreographed by senior Justine Haskell and other members of the team, accurately depicted memorable events in the movie. Cady, the transfer student from Africa, has a constant battle with Regina over Regina’s boyfriend, Aaron Samuels, portrayed by junior Andrew Belfield. When Regina makes a snarky comment, Cady thinks of how Regina would be dealt with in the animal world. The accompanying dance, “Jungle,” shows Cady’s vision of what would happen to Regina.

    Cady then snaps out of her imaginary animal world and realizes that she is in “girl world.” In “girl world” everything is dealt with differently. One of the other dances was “Party.” It was included in the scene where Cady throws a party at her house, hoping to get the attention of Aaron. Some of the other dances included “Halloween,” “Girlfight,” “Mathletes” and “Spring Fling.”
    “Every single scene of the show connected to the movie,” Vianny Gutierres, a senior marketing major said. “The script was very accurate and was even in the perfect order.”
    It was easy for those in the audience to guess what was coming next if they had seen the movie before. The classic “Mean Girl” lines were kept in the show. Altering some of the jokes a bit added more humor for Bonaventure students.
    “One of the lines I enjoyed from their play was ‘She doesn’t even go here. She goes to JCC,’” Catherine Brown, a freshman journalism and mass communication major said.
     The Bonaventure twist helped make the show a success. The dances were creative and went well with the different scenes. There was even a special guest performance by St. Bonaventure’s ASIA Dance Team. However, there was a slight fault that was noted by some students.
     “I liked the show, but I think that everything would have been better if they used clip-on microphones,” Elyse Breeze, a freshman journalism and mass communication major said. “The hand microphones took away from the acting and dancing.”
     This seemed to be a common disappointment among students. It was unusual to see the team did not use mini clip-on microphones often used for performances in the Quick Arts Center. The actors holding the microphones, and even passing them around at times, took away from some of the show’s action.
Even though the hand-held microphone was a bit of a distraction, the cast worked as best as they could with the technology they had.
Goess, a sophomore education major who played Gretchen Wieners, reflected on the show after their first performance.
      “I think the first night went great” Goess said. “There were a few bumps in the road but that is to be expected. All the work of the team totally paid off.”
The students were in character. They appeared to enjoy the roles they played, even if it involved saying something embarrassing.
     “Playing Gretchen Wieners was so much fun,” Goess said. “It’s really cool to be able to step into someone else’s identity and play it for a while. But in reality, I just really like saying ‘so fetch!’”
      The team was finally able to display all that they had been practicing. Beside any difficulties, they may have faced along the way, they put their all into the show for students to enjoy.
       “It was uplifting to see the turnout,” Tristan King, a sophomore strategic communications major said. “It’s good to see so many people attending the events hosted by groups like the Hip Hop team.”
      Bona’s might be full of mean girls, but the support shown to the Hip Hop team by students was phenomenal.

fernanal13@bonaventure.edu

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