Neuqua's 'Monologue Show' sparks conversation
The first thing you need to know about Neuqua Valley High School's seventh annual “Monologue Show” is the title is nearly as outdated as yesterday's tweet.
Even the director says it's “an increasingly inappropriately named show” and, heck, he's the guy who created it in the first place.
What Mike Rossi first envisioned as a chance to give a handful of students a chance to express their innermost thoughts has evolved over the past half-dozen years into something much more.
Starting Thursday night, April 14, and continuing through Saturday, 57 students at the high school in south Naperville will have the opportunity to share a piece of themselves in one of three completely different shows in the school's Black Box theater.
Each performance is written by the student who steps into the spotlight, and Rossi says the presentations “range in tone, structure and genre from drama to comedy, prose to poetry, song and spoken word.”
Most of the pieces run three or four minutes, and Rossi says audience members at each two-hour show will hear what he hopes is a compelling cross-section of voices from Neuqua students.
Understand before you arrive that while some performers will revel in their silliness, others likely will peel back layers of the teen experience that may be painful and uncomfortable.
Rossi says he goes into auditions each year hoping to involve as many students as possible. So while you'll see your share of theater kids, you'll also see some students who normally might be off in the corner, hoping to hide or blend in.
Even Rossi admits he's never quite sure what will happen when he begins recruiting performers.
“Every year we have auditions,” he says, “and by the end I've discovered that out of nothing they've conjured a show.”
In a school with more than 3,000 students, he says, it's easy for students to feel like they're always being ranked, numbered and ordered. This show helps them step out of the crowd and, even if for just a few minutes, to speak in their own voice and have it heard.
It's important to them and, the truth is, it's important to Rossi, too.
“They have an urgency to write,” he says. “Kids really want to be heard on their terms. It can be incredibly powerful.”
As a teacher, Rossi says the interaction helps him learn more about his students and what makes them tick.
But he hopes the show and the experience of performing and writing means even more for the teens. It helps the students learn about the power of words and the context in how they are used. It helps them learn that even when they're laying their souls bare they still must relate to their audience.
Rossi says the “Monologue Show” will be a success if it promotes conversations.
“It starts with a speech,” he says, “and ends with a conversation.”
From the Black Box stage, students will share some of their anxieties about romance and finding their way in a large school. They will talk, in their own voices, about identity-based issues, relationships with parents, faith and religion, and even philosophy.
And then, Rossi says, there will be “some kids who are just silly.”
He says he tries to balance the serious with the humorous across all three shows.
Offering students the chance to express a wide variety of thoughts in an equally wide variety of ways is fraught with some peril, but Rossi says he's gotten strong support from administrators and clear guidelines for the show.
He stresses to his performers that it's not enough to be sincere, they need to find the right way to connect with the paying customers.
“They're not speaking into a vacuum,” he says, “but to an audience of living, breathing human beings.”
He works with each student on their language and approach “so people don't just hear them, but listen to them.”
Still, it's not unusual to catch a glimpse of a mom or dad shifting a little uncomfortably in their seats.
“It's kind of hard sometimes to hear about the world teens live in,” Rossi says, “the fears, the anxieties and the temptations they face.”
When “Monologue” was new, the first show featured about 10 students in a 40-minute performance. Obviously it has grown far beyond that, and the idea of simple monologues largely has been replaced by more performance-based art.
But while the name may be outdated, the basic idea behind the show is not. The students get a voice, the audience gets a peek behind the mask for a clearer look at the hopes and fears that grip many teens.
Rossi says he learns something, too.
“It's been a tremendously rewarding teaching experience,” he says. “Most teachers, especially English teachers, go into it with an idealistic, romantic notion of impacting kids and making a difference.”
The “Monologue Show,” he says, puts him in a spot to help make that difference.
“The challenges,” he says, “are completely eclipsed by the rewards of taking a kid who might be shy or a wall flower and giving them a voice.”
If you go
What: “Monologue Show”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, April 14-16
Where: Neuqua Valley High School Black Box theater, 2360 95th St., Naperville
Cost: $5 for adults, $4 for students
Background: 57 performances spread over three nights; different shows each night
Info: nvhs.ipsd.org