Sacred Heart performs 'Father of the Bride'
by JENNIFER SIKORA Assistant Copy Editor

Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart presents "Father of the Bride" starring senior Carly Hall, who plays the bride, and to her right, Jordan Conrad, who plays the father. The production will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 28 and 29 in the school's auditorium. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Planning a wedding - especially when it is your daughter's - can lead to stress and a sudden increase in emotions. The experience is overwhelming for character Stanley Banks in "Father of the Bride," to be presented this week at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart.

"Father of the Bride," a comedy written in the 1950s, tells the story of a father trying to deal with all of the disasters that occur from the time his daughter announces her engagement until the wedding actually takes place.

Karen Szalach of Sacred Heart's English Department and the director of this year's play, chose this particular production for a couple of reasons.

"I like the comedy; it was a show not a lot of people have done before, at least in the high schools," she said. "It is clean-cut, and it is really hard to find a drama that's clean-cut for high schools, and I could also get a lot of girl parts in it."

Jake Biniszkiewicz, a sophomore at St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute, Valerie Crissy, a freshman at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, Nathan Miller, a sophomore at Canisius High School, and Andrea DeRosa, a junior at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, rehearse a scene from "Father of the Bride." Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Kay Banks, who is played by senior Carly Hall, comes home one morning at breakfast and announces she is getting married, which comes as a surprise to her father because he still sees her as daddy's little girl. Once the shock finally sets in, planning the wedding brings about other problems.

As a result, there are more conflicts in the family, but the father finally realizes he has to let go of his daughter.

This will be Hall's first big appearance on stage; usually she is part of the backstage crew doing makeup and hair. She enjoys playing Kay but finds there are several challenges she faces with the role.

"My character is an emotional mess, and she's like going through so much in her life," Hall said. "Dealing with making her family happy and making her fiance happy and wanting to do things for herself as well. She is constantly having emotional breakdowns, so sometimes it is hard to really get into the emotion she is feeling."

Her fiance, Buckley Dunstan, is being performed by Canisius High School sophomore Nathan Miller. He is not a stranger to theater and has performed in his school plays as well as for Alleyway Theatre. His said the part of Buckley is hard for him because his character doesn't show a lot of emotion and is "kind of a weak guy." But Miller likes the way the family interacts in the play.

"It seems even though it was written in the '50s, it kind of still rings true the way families interact today and have little family problems," he said, adding, "They [the Banks] are really a tight family."

Mrs. Banks a traditional mother who tries to keep the family together throughout the play, is played by Sacred Heart junior Andrea DeRosa. She has performed in past school musicals such as "Sound of Music" and "King and I" and also with St. Stephen's Parish Players in Grand Island.

She finds it is hard to portray Mrs. Banks, a woman from a different time period who is expected to take care of the household chores, because times have changed since then.

"Also, just the emotions and trying to determine even your tone of voice, playing your voice in the way that you want the emotions to come out, is really challenging, but I love it. I love acting," she said.

The excitable and nervous father, Mr. Banks is played by Jordan Conrad, the Sacred Heart librarian's nephew. He has been in 26 plays or musicals either in high school or community adult theater. Acting is something he likes to do in his spare time.

"I enjoy the development of his character throughout its subtle changes, from being just freaked out about the whole thing to accepting the fact his daughter's getting married, finding out the fiance isn't really a bad guy," Conrad said.

Szalach said the cast is moving along well, even though there are several members who have never performed before. It has been a lot of work on the basics of acting, but she said they are catching on quickly. She also hopes the audience will have fun and be able to relate to the story in some way.

"It is really about the father and daughter relationship," she said. "That was another thing that I thought was really good for this school, with all these daughters who are getting ready to go off on their own, and that relationship that fathers and daughters have, because it really comes out in the play. Despite the fact that he is absolutely out of his mind, (the father), for the whole play. At the end you can really see how much he is going to miss his daughter."

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 28 and 29 at Sacred Heart, 3860 Main St., Eggertsville. General admission is $7, with the cost to students and seniors $5. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or call the main office at 834-2101, ext. 301 for more information.