It is no secret that Woodland’s drama program has diminished since COVID and the departure of the previous drama teacher, Susan Cinnamon, in 2019; however, like a superhero in a red cape, Thomas Simonetti has joined the Woodland family this year to get drama back on track.
A member of Actor’s Equity, owner of his own professional theatre company, teacher, and esteemed director, Simonetti does it all. This 2021 year he hopes to turn the lights up and draw the curtain for the production of The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong.
1. Welcome to Woodland, tell us a little about yourself. (Where did you go to college, what experience do you have in drama, why did you decide to come to Woodland)
“Hi! And thank you, I am very lucky to be here! I attended college at Wagner College on Staten Island and got my Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Speech, and then earned my Masters in Teaching at Sacred Heart University. I would love to go through my entire resume, but let’s just say that Nick Jonas’ phone number is in my phone from a show we did together in the early 2000s. I am a proud member of Actor’s Equity, which is the Union for all professional Stage Managers and Actors. I have been lucky enough in my career to tour through Europe and Asia doing Grease and West Side Story, and got my first professional job out of college playing Templeton, the rat across America in Charlotte’s Web. My parents were very proud that I was getting my health insurance and benefits by playing a rat for 1st graders at 8:30 in the morning across the country. I also own my own professional theater company, Valley Shakespeare Festival, which presents Free Shakespeare in the Park every summer and during the spring tours to schools, senior centers, community centers, homeless shelters, detention centers. I also direct at Masuk High School’s Drama Department. I left a full-on 3rd-grade classroom to come to Woodland, because teaching Drama in a high school setting has been a big goal of mine. While I sometimes miss my 3rd graders, this job fits perfectly. I not only love teaching my theater courses, but I am also loving teaching English 12 and cannot wait to dive into Shakespeare in Performance in the Spring. Get ready for Titus Andronicus…it is a bloody good time…”
2. What are your goals/intentions for the drama program this year?
“I know this year the Drama department is building itself back-up after two years of not being live on stage. Right now it is getting to know the culture and the students. I am looking to grow the program after a year of not being on stage by picking fun plays, but also challenging to our student actors. I also want to be sure that it remains inclusive, but yet a professional experience for all involved. I am impressed how Woodland takes the arts, and all activities very seriously, it is refreshing. I also want to make the drama program more student run. Students do the building of the settings, costumes, etc…They raise the money on their own to be self-sustainable. Learning to create your own work is extremely important as a young actor.”
3. What is the fall play this year? Can you summarize the storyline?
“The fall play this year is The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong. We are lucky because we are one of the first high schools to do this version. The show is currently playing off-Broadway in NYC as we speak. The play itself concerns an accident-prone amateur theater company that tries to put on a murder mystery called The Murder at Haversham Manor. The actors and crew battle against all odds to make it through to their final curtain call, with hilarious consequences. Over the course of an hour, expect a plethora of disasters from missed lines, falling props, and actors blacking out.”
4. What inspired you to choose this play?
“I was inspired, because I know after the past two years, we need something that is fun and makes you laugh. Every time I was called into an audition for both the Broadway and Off-Broadway companies, I could not stop laughing and having fun during the audition–maybe that is why I never booked the job? Also, I think this play is relatable to any actor, or anyone who plays a sport. How many times have I covered for someone who missed an entrance, or the wrong prop was brought in, or a piece of set broke in my hand? The show is also a challenge for the Technical crew–there is a lot of magic that has to happen for this show to be successful.”
5. What are you looking for in aspiring actors?
“I mainly look for students who are willing to put in the work. The work means taking the extra time to highlight and mark-up their script or do research into the time period of a piece. Who will be thoughtful in their rehearsal process. Also, I want to be sure that I am working with people who are kind and nice to not only me, but to each other. We work very close, very hard and very quickly in the theater–it can get frustrating at times, so I want to make sure that I am working with people who can keep a cool-level head in the face of adversity. I want actors who can problem solve by using what they have learned in their acting classes. That is basically what a director is hiring you to do.”
6. What musical do you plan on putting on in the spring?
“That is the million dollar question…
…my choices have been going between a musical based on a popular comic strip, an ensemble piece about the workforce written by the composers of Wicked and Hamilton, and a jukebox musical based on one of my favorite Jane Austen novels. A lot of it honestly depends on the talent that I am finding daily here at Woodland.”
