It’ll Come Together, and it definitely did. This year’s fall drama was not a show to miss. From the first moment the cast stepped onstage, the audience watched from the edge of their seats, already noticing how much work went into performing the play. It certainly had all of the zips, zaps and zops anyone could hope for.
Noah T. Parnes–playwright, screenwriter, drag artist, member of the Fieldston class of 2017 and recent graduate of Yale University–wrote this show specifically for the Fieldston 2025 Fall Drama. He worked with some Fieldston students during the writing process. Parnes described the play as “about, well, theater kids. Theater kids who literally worship at the altar of an alum of their school, who now happens to be Timothée-Chalamet-level famous—someone they believe can break the decade-long curse of their fall musical. Despite secret crushes, broken arms, ripped costumes…the kids decide to put up their show anyway.”
This group of outcast theater kids (and one athlete) does their very best to put on their fall musical without the guiding hand of their beloved director, Ms. Parker. The story features dramatic turns and twists, leading to new relationships and self-discovery. In the end, their unauthorized plan to put on the show is discovered, and they are all suspended for two weeks. The lesson here is not to stop trying to create change or to stop following dreams. Instead, the play emphasizes that it is not the end, even if something stops or someone gets in trouble. Failure does not mean everything is over. Each character found an aspect of themselves throughout the performance, and by the time it finished, they had grown.
The play itself included the work of more than twenty students, both on and off stage. The tech crew included Cole Kanner (form IV), Jake Siegel (form V), Leila McGee (form IV), Ess Sun (form III), Chloe Nieves (form VI), Esmé Ruiz (form III), Ethan Gartenlaub (form III), Catarina Nolli (form V), Duncan Echtenkamp (form III), Aliza Wright (form III), John Keithline (form V) and Freya Matasar (form VI).
The actors included Mariela Alschuler (Gardenia, form VI), Charlotte Ellis (Opal, form V), Gus Morgan (Carchase, form IV), Kaylah Newell (Lenny, form III), Ava Resnick (Kit, form IV), Farah Salem (Angelique, form V) and Mira Vlassis (Marquee, form III).
For Resnick, working on the show “[was] one of the most amazing experiences. Everyone in the cast and crew was so warm, caring and supportive, and I got the chance to connect with so many amazing people… which I am so grateful for.” She also found it incredible “to get to hear [Parnes’s] insight while actually rehearsing.”
The play could not have been performed without director Clare Mottola, the Fieldston Theatre and Dance Department Chair (spelled with an -re at the end) or Hannah Shafran and Sam Harris, the show’s technical directors and Fieldston graduates from the class of 2002 and 2019, respectively.
In the words of Marquee (Vlassis), it is “crucially essential” to acknowledge the show’s stage manager, Perry Garon (form V), assistant stage manager, Michael Georgiades (Form V) and the two assistant directors (ADs), Elliot Rubenstein (form VI) and Ari Laureano Medina (form VI). According to the ADs, this show is about kids finding themselves and trying to do something that will change their lives without an adult’s help. In a world controlled by powerful grown-ups, a play whose themes center on young people discovering their abilities and their power to create change is necessary in today’s society.
Rubenstein helped Parnes with some of the script over the summer and wrote in the playbill, “This show has been incredibly special to me because it’s the first play I’ve worked so closely on before it was finished and the first show I’ve Assistant Directed.”
Laureano Medina also reflected on what this show meant to her. She wrote, “I’ve been so blessed to work with such amazing people, both on and off stage, and I know I couldn’t do it anywhere else.”
The actors were truly able to bring Parnes’s writing to life and teach the audience valuable lessons about working together, fighting for your power, relationships and what it means to be part of something bigger than yourself. Every actor nailed their role, and everyone backstage helped make the show go on. Congratulations to all involved!
