September 11, 2005

On stage across the ocean

Jeffirs Scott

CULVER -- Ben Jeffirs could hardly contain his excitement, as teens his age are wont to do when they get to do something cool.

It's been several weeks since the high school sophomore made his theater debut at the Festival Fringe, a primarily theater festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He's still bubbly about his experience.

"I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life," said Jeffirs, a Culver Academies student from Plymouth.

He'd never been on stage before his debut at Festival Fringe.

"It was a great start for me and the best possible experience I could have," Ben said.

Ben, 16, and 13 other Culver Academies students and two 2005 Academies graduates got to perform at the Festival Fringe. However, all types of arts can be seen during the festival, which was Aug. 7 through Aug. 29.

The students performed four times over a five-day period. The performed the play "Omnium Gatherum," written by Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros.

Ben played Terence, "the British jerk," which is "what I call him" in the play, which was written after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It centers around eight opinionated people at a dinner party. The eight have definite ideas about the right way and the wrong way to do things in regard to various topics of discussion that revolve around politics and religion.

Ben said the character of Terence is often used for comic relief but he also has some interesting insights.

Since Ben had never acted before, he thought he'd give an acting class a try, which is how he got involved with Festival Fringe.

"(Ben) was in my acting class," said Richard Coven, head of the school's theater department. "That's where I discovered him."

Coven said Culver Academies' theater department was nominated to perform at Festival Fringe, which allowed the group to apply to perform at the festival.

About 36 schools across the nation were chosen to participate, Coven said.

The venue was already set up, but the theater group had to show up with their sets and actors to perform.

They had 90 minutes to perform the play and just a few minutes to clear their sets and the stage before the next school performed.

Carrie Scott, 18, a senior at Culver Academies, didn't get to be on stage with the group, but she was working behind the scenes.

She has worked for the past four years on sound, sound effects and music for the Academies' theater performances and finally got the chance to do it in a professional venue in Scotland.

Scott said she is planning to continue pursuing work in the theater.

She would like to attend LACC Theater Academy and study sound, set design and play writing.

Even though she's a pro at the work she's done at Eppley Auditorium at Culver Academies, she'd never been out of the country before.

She agreed with Ben when he said, "You just can't pass up an opportunity like this.

"It was incredible," Ben said.