The Lasell Drama Club recently wrapped up for the semester and said goodbye to a handful of seniors who performed for the last time at Spring Cabaret. They look back on their experiences fondly, though with bittersweetness for leaving.
One senior who will be moving on after this year is Rebecca Manning. Manning found the drama club by simply scouring Lasell to see every program that was offered. At first, Manning did not want to audition so she took the position of stage manager. Since then, Manning has grown into an integral part of the Lasell Drama Club and has even played a role. Thanks to this, Manning has flourished as part of the drama club and has helped the team greatly. Now, a year later, she is getting ready to say her final goodbyes.
Another senior leaving is Jennifer Frechette. She found the drama club in the fall of 2020 during a virtual activities fair. Since joining, she has become an integral member taking on the positions of secretary, membership coordinator, and vice president. She feels that this environment was the least toxic theater club she was a part of.
Although not the most confident person having not been in drama while in high school, she found comfort in others with her performance abilities. “Getting to play so many incredible roles, including but not limited to, a shy tenor, a junkie, an asthmatic goody-two-shoes stuck in the 90s, a roommate suspected of murder, a literal demi-god from one of my favorite books, a middle-aged man stuck in his ways to literally every Broadway role under the sun in this cabaret.” These were just a handful of roles played by Frechette. She had a final solo performance singing “Soul of a Man” from the musical Kinky Boots.
Frechette also recruited a transfer student and roommate Josh Labrosse, who is graduating this year. He joined in the fall of 2022 after his roommate pressured him into helping with production. Labrosse mentioned that leaving feels bittersweet, and that he has so many memories with a lot of people in the club. Playing around with the cast and having fun at rehearsal is just one of things that Labrosse will miss the most about drama club. “I will say the most emotional song, and probably the song where I feel like I was at my best in terms of singing ability, was I Am My Own Invention, which was also the song that featured all the graduating seniors,” he said after recalling a song that he believed was a big part of Spring Cabaret.
Grace Couto, although joining only one semester ago, had some fond memories of being able to perform. After a long career as a student athlete, she finally got to try out as a performer after lecturer and choir director Karissa Vincent convinced her to join.
“I've always loved music, but things like choir and musical things that I haven't gotten the opportunity to do in the past, I finally got my chance to do it this year and it was really fun,” Couto said. “Karissa came to me for one rehearsal and was like, you should try out for the musical.”
Another two seniors a part of the drama club include Lewis Katz and 1851’s very own LJ LaFiura. Katz was not a performer, but helped greatly as a board member and technician.
Despite all of the bittersweetness, there is a silver lining in that the drama club will continue to be handled by capable individuals. This group of seniors will be hard to replicate, but that is a task that the drama club is ready to undertake.
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