This past Saturday I had the pleasure of seeing The Monster Under The Bed performed by the Spartan Theatre department and directed by drama teacher Maeve Nash. And although this play was designed for younger audiences, adults and teenagers alike enjoyed the show as well.

This play is about a young boy named Ben (played by junior Connor Brunson) who lives with his mom (junior Stella Bunch), while his father (senior Kyle Mahoney) is far away from home.

Ben does not want to go to school so he can avoid seeing his frenemie, Vince (senior Roberto Delgado). However, while Ben does not want to see him, he still needs to get the binoculars that he took from him that Ben’s father gave to him, so he switches lives with the monster living under his bed (senior Sonya Maria Leon).

When this monster goes to school, he meets Ben’s girlfriend Celine (played by senior Ashtyn Spring), and begins to cause suspicion among Celine and Ben’s other classmates and his teacher (played by junior Zoey Barnett) due to the way Ben is acting. Back at home, Ben meets the Dad Monster (senior Martin Desjardins) and at first is frightened, but then begins to bond with him.

Each actor is worth recognizing, but those who stood out were Spring who plays Celine and Leon who plays the young monster. Spring with her comedic portrayal of a young girl obsessed with love, and Leon’s witty and comical persona of the young monster.

According to senior costume and makeup designer Laura Moritz, the making of the monster’s costume for Leon was a long process because of all the fabric gluing and time trying to get the wings right. While Moritz, as well as junior Sam McQuiston and sophomore Layla Salvucci, had the costume of the young monster on their hands, they were still able to bring the rest of cast’s costumes together enhancing the production.

In addition to the costumes, everything from the two-story set to the lights and props were crucial aspects in making this play cohesive and impressive. The elevated second-story of the set was designed in a unique way to resemble a young child’s bedroom, with the bottom story resembling the area under Ben’s bed, home of the monster.

The Dad Monster was an enormous puppet made with what seemed to be more than a hundred articles of clothing put together to resemble a giant face. Not only was the process of making this puppet strenuous, it took multiple puppeteers to control it all throughout the show to make it come to life.

Spartan Theatre put a tremendous amount of work into this production, and their hard work paid off.

Drama teacher Maeve Nash as well as senior assistant director Brandon LaBarge has put together such an amazing show, with a distinct focus, smooth transitioning from scene to scene, and a special selection of actors/actresses.

While this production may be over, I encourage you to watch and support the immensely talented theatre department at the Winter One Acts on January 24-26 and their spring musical which will be held from May 2-5.