At the Akron All-City Musical, the Plastics actually love each other.
The young women playing The Plastics in “Mean Girls,” that is. The four actresses who play Regina, Gretchen and Karen in the Plastics clique and the new girl Cady that they befriend have spent so much time together rehearsing for the musical, they’ve become close.
Ariana Moneskey-Jones (Regina), Melanie Cesa (Karen) and Paige Pedmo (Cady) have actually spent three or four years straight doing All-City Musicals together, which are produced by the Akron Civic Theatre. This year, Lillian Wagner (Gretchen) is new to the All-City Musical, and she couldn’t be happier.
“I’m just so excited for our friendship to continue to grow over these next two weeks,” Wagner said of her co-stars at rehearsal June 2.
The teens are among 34 cast members representing 19 schools as well as home-schooled students in this year’s All-City production. “Mean Girls,” the tale of ruthless clique leader Regina and the new girl who infiltrates her group at the fictional North Shore High School, will run for three performances June 13 and 14 at the Akron Civic Theatre.
Moneskey-Jones, a graduate of St. Vincent-St. Mary who has been in the All-City Musical each year since she graduated from eighth grade, said she was happy to break the mold of the typically blond Regina to play a dream role.
“I didn’t know if it was really possible for me, because there aren’t a lot of Reginas that look like me that have played it,” the 17-year-old said. “I knew that I had a chance and all the opportunities were kind of handed to me, in a way, with the amount of training and different connections I made throughout the past couple years with my friends and the Akron Civic Theatre.”
The actress, whose father is Black and mother is white, approaches her character as someone who has to be the queen bee of her Chicago-area, predominantly white high school in order to fit in because she’s a person of color.
“I feel like at least in my community, I’m making it more inclusive and just like a different interpretation,” she said of her Regina role.
“I think there’s an opportunity for so much more depth,” Moneskey-Jones said. “She has to be overconfident at all times.”
Moneskey-Jones, who will study musical theater at the University of Michigan in the fall, has been training with the pre-professional Weathervane Musical Theater Company over the last year.
Playing Gretchen and Karen
Wagner, an 18-year-old graduate of Tallmadge High School, talked about how her character is a people pleaser who strives to always serve Regina, whose friendship is toxic. Wagner will attend Miami University in the fall to study mechanical engineering.
“One of my top roles that I wanted to be was Gretchen Wieners, because I love her song in the show, which is ‘What’s Wrong with Me?’ If performed the right way, it can be so powerful because it truly shows how someone who just wants to please everyone and wants to be accepted can kind of overshadow their own feelings,” Wagner said.
Cesa, a 17-year-old rising senior at Padua Franciscan High School in Parma, plays Karen, the most naive of the Plastics. This is her third All-City Musical. She loves Karen’s big dance number “Sexy” and her personality.
“I loved how she always had like this energy and spunk to her and like her individuality. Even though she’s perceived as the dumb one, she has a personality still under that,” Cesa said.
Pursuing the Cady role
Pedmo, 18, a graduate of Buckeye Senior High School, will also attend Miami University in the fall to study English and political science. Her character Cady, who grew up in the African savannah with biologist parents, is unaware of high school cliques when she arrives at school.
“I think the idea of the Plastics drew her in and she didn’t realize she was doing anything wrong, per se, because she didn’t know any better,” Pedmo said of Cady becoming a member of the Plastics.
Pedmo wanted to be cast as Cady so badly, she started learning the character’s songs last summer for February auditions.
“I wanted to have good prep for the role and understand her so that when I came and auditioned, I could be ready to play her,” she said.
Director Francine Parr said she’s working this year with a special cast that’s made up of mostly girls.
“I was once one of those students, so there are moments in rehearsal where I see a little bit of my younger self in them,” she said. “Getting to come full circle and help create the same kind of experience that had such a big impact on me has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career.”
Parr, who graduated from Firestone High School, performed in the All-City Musicals “Hairspray,” “Ragtime” and “Bye Bye Birdie” from 2012 to 2014.
Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Details
Musical: “Mean Girls”
When: 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. June 13, 2:30 p.m. June 14
Where: Akron Civic Theatre, 182 S. Main St.
Onstage: Ariana Moneskey-Jones, Lillian Wagner, Melanie Cesa, Paige Pedmo, Lliam Klosterman, Saranya Basran, Grayson Griffith, Micah Adkins, Emery Boothe, Reagan Buckshaw, Alyx Carlson, Piper Elliott, Tayden Gomber, Abigail Hartzell, Afton Karzsia, Claire Knowles, Cam Kucharski, Millie Lyon, Nina Manion, Rey Maynhart, Marisa McDonald, Kaylee Miller, Alister Moeck, Edith Mowls, Jenna Nolen, Skyler Palmer, Miah Palmer, Tom Piper, Laine Renner, Gemma Sable, Nash Simpson, Bailey Sparks, Henry Thomas, Teela Watson
Offstage: Francine Parr, director; Ryan Cash, Pauline Chapelet, Cara DuBois, Donovan Green, Cameron Huggins, Ben Jancha, Lucas Marques, Liam Piper, Audrey Swegan, student orchestra
Cost: $15-$37.55
Information: akroncivic.com, 330-253-2488
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: All-City Musical brings hit ‘Mean Girls’ to Akron Civic Theatre stage
Reporting by Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kerry Clawson, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
