Deep good-bye

Story by Casey Ressler-Valley Life editor

"The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds," is a deep, thought-provoking play about the meaning of life. For David Pelto, it is also a perfect good-bye.

Pelto, a teacher at Colony High School, is directing the CHS production of the play, which begins next Wednesday. After a 24-year career of teaching and directing school productions in the Valley, Pelto is retiring -- both as a teacher, and as a school play director.

"This is the sort of play that is a real love of mine. It's a small cast, and everybody is thoroughly committed. It's all business, and it is a real challenge," Pelto said. "This is my last play, and I'm glad it is this show, with these students."

With Pelto's retirement, this play is a "last" of sorts. But it is also a "first" in other ways.

Colony teacher KerryAnn Byrd is also starring in the show as the mother, and it marks the first time in her career she has done a student production. It is also the first time Pelto has tapped an adult to star in a school play.

"We had to have an adult play the role of the mother [Beatrice Hunsdorfer]" Pelto said. "In this play, a student playing the role just wouldn't have done it."

Byrd has taken to the stage with students before, but it was during Valley Performing Arts productions. This is her first school play, and she said she is impressed by the cast.

"All of the girls have been very, very professional, all the way down to learning their lines quickly," Byrd said. "I really appreciate the professionalism they have shown. It has been fun for me."

The cast is very small -- it consists of Byrd, Natasha Fry, Nessa Rooks, Laura Bleicher, Dasha Siromaha and stage manager Rebecca Weiant. That sort of closeness has been a challenge, but one the students have met with eagerness.

"It is different to think of your teacher as a coactress, because they are two different roles, but it has been fun," Fry, who plays Tillie, said. "I've learned a lot from Mrs. Byrd and Mr. Pelto as a coactress and director, in addition to being my teachers.

"Having a small cast is less fun on a teen-ager fun level, but it is easier on the stage," Fry said.

The play is about a dysfunctional family in which Byrd plays the mother of a family that includes Tillie, who through a science fair project discovers that her life really has meaning, and Nessa, who is a wild child played by Rooks. Bleicher plays Janice Vickery, and Siromaha, an exchange student from the Ukraine, plays Nanny, who doesn't speak a word during the play yet comes off as a powerful character.

"Nanny never speaks, but she creates a negative image for us to envision as the future for the mom," Pelto said. "The mother is incapable of caring. It's a single set, and everything revolves around the struggle of Tillie to find the meaning of life."

The play opens with Ruth being the confident daughter, and Tillie lacking confidence. As the play progresses, those views shift. The audience sees how a mother can sabotage a life through verbal abuse, and the struggle children face in rising above that abuse.

"With a play like this, you have an intensity that starts and never relents," Pelto said.

"Gamma Rays" opens Wednesday

"The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds" opens Wednesday, May 22 at Colony High School in the theater.

The play is one of the deeper-meaning plays Colony has presented in a long time, director David Pelto said.

Originally, the show was to be presented earlier in the year, but due to a scheduling change, it is the final production this season.

The play only runs for one weekend, from Wednesday through Saturday, May 25.

Show times are at 7:30 every night, and tickets are available for $5 at the door.

The play is Pelto's last, after 24 years and "at least 70" plays.

For more information, contact Pelto at 746-9500.