As it should be, involvement in Seneca High School’s presentation of “Get Smart” is a learning experience.
With a little KAOS thrown in.
Featuring a cast and crew born a full generation removed from the end of the iconic 1960s TV show starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, the first step was establishing a knowledge of the CONTROL universe.
“I knew the theme song,” said Brendan Hieronimus, who plays the Chief of CONTROL. “And when I read it, I knew a lot of the jokes, but I didn’t realize they were from ‘Get Smart.’”
Many members of the cast said their familiarity with “Get Smart” was from the 2008 movie with Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin.
The show’s director Allison Dougherty, a world language teacher at Seneca, said this show provides a nice change-up from the club’s annual spring musical.
“This show is a lot of fun. It’s light, smart and very funny. We’ve done this show once before a few years ago now,” Dougherty said. “The kids have been doing a great job with it.”
The fall performance also features a much smaller cast and crew than the musical, with about 30–40 students participating in “Get Smart.”
“It’s a smaller production with a much closer cast. I loved everyone. There’s no drama,” Agent 99, Haley Graham, said as much of the cast laughed and groaned at her pun.
Dougherty has served as assistant director on several of Seneca’s previous fall productions. This is her first year directing the show, but she credits her predecessor Joe Fisicaro for preparing her.
“I learned a lot from him, and I think a lot of my directing style is from him,” Dougherty said.
Her cast has learned a lot as well from her and from one another.
“One thing they have learned is if they’re not prepared or ready to go on stage, it gets very lonely and very frightening very quickly,” Dougherty said. “They’ve learned about responsibility in terms of other actors relying on them. It’s not a matter of one person carrying a scene. It’s a definitely a system and a community.”
