Malden High’s Play Production hit the road on February 28th, bringing their vibrant costumes and detailed props to Wellesley High School, where they competed in the annual Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG) High School Drama Festival. They faced five other schools in this year’s preliminary round: Billerica Memorial High School, Buckingham Browne and Nichols (BB&N), Manchester Essex Regional High School, Wellesley High School, and Reading Memorial High School.
Beginning their day bright and early, Malden’s crew arrived at Wellesley at 8 AM. After unpacking, the first production was performed at 9:30 AM. Billerica presented The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, a utopian tale set in Omelas, where the city’s livelihood depends on the anguish of a single child, raising questions about morality.
This chain would continue with BB&N presenting The 39 Steps at 10:30 AM, Manchester-Essex presenting Bureau of Missing Persons at 11:30 AM, Wellesley presenting Fire in the Hole at 1:30 PM, and Reading presenting St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves at 2:45 PM.
Sophomore Sabrima Bhattarai expressed her joy at being able to witness “Broadway-level shows” and interact with a larger “theater community,” grateful for gaining such an experience for “free.”
Finally, at 3:45 PM, Malden would step on stage to perform Julia Izumi’s Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea, a retelling of the beloved Disney classic, The Little Mermaid. The production explores themes of unrequited love, sexuality, and denial by creating parallels between the characters on stage and Hans Christian Andersen, the author of the said fairytale.
“I picked this show because it was inspiring to me, and the minute my students saw my interest, they told me to go for it. As a director, you’re often thinking about what’s going to be best for our students, what’s going to get them engaged and excited to work on the show. It’s not often that they see your excitement, and it’s contagious,” remarked Play Pro teacher Ariana Messana.
As the lights flickered away, the narrator’s voice came to life, describing Raincloud’s, the main character played by sophomore Sofia Rivera, curiosity about the strange human standing beneath her. Unlike others, Ralmond, played by senior Matt Jason Chan, stood under the rain with no umbrella, “outstretched arms,” and proclaimed to love the rain—and just like that, the personified Raincloud came crashing down into Ralmond’s arm.
Rivera described Raincloud as a “ball of energy” and explained that to embrace the persona, she often “jumped around and waved her hands” before performing.
Having seen and heard Ralmond’s appreciation for the rain, Raincloud becomes infatuated with the boy holding her in his arms, declaring her love, only to be turned down by his admission of having a girlfriend—Midi, played by Bhattarai.
Unaware of human customs, Raincloud cannot understand why having a girlfriend would pose a problem, claiming that she, too, has a cowfriend, Bessie, but loves Ralmond. Determined to find a solution, Raincloud goes to Bessie, played by junior Grayson Herrera, whose only dialogue happens to be “moo!” For a comic effect, Bessie’s every moo is translated by side characters, shedding light on the love advice she gives to Raincloud.
Getting across different ideas with only “moo” was a challenge, but Herrera explained how he “practiced the action and various tones in front of the mirror each day.”
Suddenly, the scene shifts to a young man gushing over a lady despite her disinterest and repeated rejection. The characters are revealed to be King Edvard, played by senior Liam Gallagher, and Ina, played by sophomore Lillyanna Keogh.
“At the end of the day, it’s how you portray a character. For me, that was a lovestruck, royal fool,” described Gallagher.
However, as Ina and King Edvard leave the stage, the fourth wall is broken by Dolan, played by senior Kail Boswell, who awkwardly arrives on stage. He steps forward as the author of “The Little Raincloud” and admits to the audience that the moment between King Edvard and Ina was not part of his script, urging them to disregard it. The slip exposes how little control he actually has over the story he’s supposed to be telling.
Boswell shared that to mirror Andersen’s character, he “researched his life” to understand how to “sculpt the character to fit” the 19th-century author.
As the story continues, the audience is taken to Midi and Ralmond’s home, where it is learned just how different the two are. Midi is a passionate climate activist, while her boyfriend teaches seventh grade. Though they care for each other, their relationship shows clear strain when Midi forgets their planned dinner and when the two clash over The Little Mermaid’s true meaning.
Once more, the scene abruptly shifts to King Edvard and Ina, before Dolan frantically jumps in trying to reign in the narrative. From this point onward, the play gradually reveals its layered plot, with constant clashes between Dolan and his characters, who represent lovers from Andersen’s life.
“The biggest challenge in this production was understanding the plot. It was a complex show, which made it difficult at first to figure out what angle we should approach it from and how our characters should interact with each other,” noted Boswell.
As Dolan concludes his rant to the audience, Raincloud and Ralmond appear on stage. After being away for 12 days, Raincloud confesses that she has been learning to “woo” Ralmond and attempts to kiss him; however, Ralmond turns her down and says he loves Midi and wants to marry her.
This time, Dolan steps into the story on purpose and tries to speak with Ralmond, but the scene abruptly shifts as the lights wash the stage in blue-green and the two men become Andersen and Harald. In this transformed moment, Andersen confronts Harald about discarding his letters, echoing the real-life relationship between Andersen and the Danish dancer—Harald Scharff—whose engagement to Camilla Petersen ended the bond Andersen had treasured.
Becoming aware of the audience’s watchful eyes, Dolan changes the narrative again, this time pretending to be Bessie to influence Raincloud’s actions. Throughout the play, the setting has been unintentionally plagued by heavy rainfall and flooding caused by Raincloud. Wanting her to win Ralmond’s affections, Dolan recommends drowning and then saving him.
Raincloud hesitates and questions whether what she feels is truly love, once again transitioning into Andersen’s life. This time, Andersen argues with Louise about their relationship, who declares Andersen a brother and nothing more. Andersen fell in love with his childhood friend
Louise Collins and later her brother Edvard Collins, maintaining the theme of the author’s complicated love life.
Performing in her first METG show, Rivera described feeling “surreal” and “proud” of herself at reaching such a milestone, after having “an interest in theater from a young age.”
We are then taken back to Midi and Ralmond’s apartment, where Ralmond gets down on one knee to propose; however, taken by surprise and caught in a flurry of emotions, Midi blurts out, “This is seriously not the time.” Hurt by the rejection, Ralmond leaves the apartment, while Midi realizes she does not want things to end in a misunderstanding.
As she goes to follow Ralmond, Dolan appears, the scene shifts, and now the two are Riborg and Andersen. Riborg Voigt was betrothed to another man from childhood and could not marry Andersen, despite loving him. The scene reveals Andersen’s consistency of unrequited love and societal challenges.
Continued to be tormented by his past loves, Bessie appears as Carl Alexander, a Grand Duke, who shared a deep and long-term friendship with Andersen. In the scene, Alexander jests about Andersen’s proposal to the famous opera singer, Jenny Lind. Lind was another one of Andersen’s infatuations and ended up rejecting him.
Meanwhile, Ralmond stands under the sky, declaring to love the rain, finally accepting Raincloud’s advances and kissing her. This is the scene Play Pro referred to as the “magical girl transformation,” where Ralmond and Raincloud switch souls, transforming Ralmond into a raincloud and Raincloud into a human, as pages descend onto them. Bhattarai claimed it to be her “favorite part of the show.”
However, upon this soul switch, Ralmond faints, causing Raincloud to panic and bring him to Midi. There, Midi and Raincloud’s awkward encounter reveals the kiss, while Ralmond vanishes in the background. Dead set on finding Ralmond, Midi runs out of the apartment in a hurry, but to no avail.
Sitting down in defeat, Midi and Raincloud have a conversation about Ralmond, their feelings, and the rain. With tearful eyes, Midi looks up into the sky and breathes out, “I love the rain.” As soon as those words come out of her mouth, Ralmond comes crashing down into her arms, repeating the Raincloud’s lines from the beginning of the play.
Due to MTEG’s time limit of 40 minutes per play, Messana had to cut major scenes and while still keeping the production’s essence; therefore, concluding the show with a raincloud falling in love with a human again.
With all the productions performed, the judges soon announced the advancing schools and handed out awards to students. Unfortunately, Malden did not progress in the competition, and the advancing schools were Manchester Essex Regional High School, Wellesley High School, and Reading Memorial High School.
For awards, Bhattarai, Keogh, Chan, and Gallagher received theirs for the translation scene with Bessie, Rivera received one for her portrayal of Raincloud, Herrera and junior Esther Mei Noche were awarded for costume design, and the set team was acknowledged.
Originally, the play had a Cast A and B, with Cast B preparing to perform in the Jenkins Auditorium on February 26th; however, due to several schedule changes and snow days, the home show was cancelled.
Keeping with the theme of parallels, sophomores were attending the competition for the first time, while seniors were attending it for the last time. “It was, as always, such a fun experience to perform on stage for people who understand what you went through to get the performance to the point it is,” voiced Boswell.
Rivera reflected that the event was “very exciting” and despite backstage nervousness, as soon as she stepped foot onto the stage, all of her anxiety “floated away,” leaving her as light as a raincloud.
Despite struggling with “time and technical hiccups,” the crew was able to bring a fairytale to life, showcasing their dedication and “optimism” to produce a memorable play, concluded Messana.
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