Fine-Tuning the Revolution
“Les Misérables” – Clean-cut today, tomorrow they’ll be manning the barricades. Photo by Susan Truman
by Janet Oshiro
“Marcelo! You have a girl running away with the gate! I need a bench! Any bench! Just a bench! The crate should go to the left, no – the other left.” As Summer Dey Cacciagioni quickly speaks into her headset, a crew member runs frantically around the stage, moving the aforementioned crate through a mass of bodies belting out musical numbers. He places it down at least three different times until Cacciagioni is satisfied. She takes a couple notes, pausing only briefly before communicating directions to the crew once again.
Onstage, actors ages 11 to 19 sing with all their might, and in the audience, parent volunteers and even offstage actors are rushing through the seats with props, stopping frequently to talk to Cacciagioni. Amidst this organized chaos, there is a musical.
“This is our second time doing ‘Les Misérables,’” says Cacciagioni, “It’s pretty huge.”
Cacciagioni runs a local youth theater company called Encore Entertainers that performs most of the time in the Mira Costa High School auditorium. With degrees from both El Camino College and Chapman University, Cacciagioni is no stranger to theater.
Theater in her blood
“I’ve been doing theater my whole life and I’ve performed in over 100 shows,” Cacciagioni says. “When I was 16 I had to write a paper about a job I liked. So I interviewed my director and I wrote that I wanted to grow up producer and director my own theater company.”
She was finally able to do so three years ago, when she formed Encore Entertainers with her husband, Marcelo.
“I worked for everybody in the business for about 15 years,” Cacciagioni says, “and then my husband and I decided, ‘You know, it’s time for us to go out and do our own thing.’”
The theater company is essentially a day-traveling theater troupe. With no one venue to call home; Cacciagioni and her students rehearse wherever they can. Often, she finds a way to frequent Coast Christian School, the Hermosa Community Center, the Rolling Hills Covenant Community Center, and many other locations.
“We never rehearse [in the Mira Costa auditorium]; we just do our shows here,” she says. “We’ve also done performances at El Camino College and the Hermosa Beach Playhouse – wherever we can get space.”
As for why she picked Mira Costa as her venue of choice, Cacciagioni says, “Marcelo graduated from Mira Costa. When we were looking to start something up, we thought, ‘Let’s go back to our roots!’”
Encore Entertainers have performed everything from “Peter Pan” to “Grease.” But “Les Misérables” is by far the most popular and Cacciagioni’s favorite – she likes it so much, she’s directed it twice in the three years she’s been running the company.
“We’ve done it once before,” she says; “it was the second show we produced after forming Encore Entertainers.”
This production of “Les Misérables” is Cacciagioni’s way of honoring the one musical that has inspired her the most. Encore Entertainers is a company that was born from her love for theater, which in turn was nourished by the musical “Les Misérables.”
“‘Les Misérables’ is the earliest professional production I can remember seeing,” Cacciagioni says. “A friend of mine was cast in the L.A. production as Gavroche. It was also the first time I got to see somebody I knew in a professional show – it was really neat. And I was hooked.”
“Les Misérables” has also led Cacciagioni to embrace her current position as producer and director of this show.
“It was always my dream to play Eponine, but I never dreamed I could actually grow up and direct it. Being able to direct it has ended up being cooler than being in it. When you direct, it’s almost like you get to play all the roles.”
In the round
Perhaps the one thing that sets Cacciagioni’s “Les Misérables” apart from other productions is the massive turntable built from scratch that adorns the stage. Although it is not immediately visible to the eye, it takes up most of the stage and is used in almost every scene. The addition of the turntable adds another dimension to the environment and experience of this production, allowing the illusion of a more spacious stage. Cacciagioni and her husband co-designed and built the turntable together.
“We have a shop in Torrance where we build everything,” she says. “We’re also able to paint it, which is nice because usually we’re unable to paint the actual stage.”
All of the costumes and makeup are prepared by parent volunteers, led by Cheryl Oritz. And although the designs for the costumes range from show to show, Oritz is adamant that the costumes of “Les Misérables” are designed to copy those seen on Broadway.
Cacciagioni has mainly relied on word of mouth to advertise her theater company. Maura Chen, a violinist in the orchestra, says that she “heard about the musical through friends who were also interested in playing in the pit orchestra.”
There was no audition process for Chen and the other orchestra members, and this is a trait that usually applies to the productions of Encore Entertainers. However, the acting of “Les Misérables” demands auditions. Cacciagioni says that “it depends on the show. Sometimes it’s first come first serve. For this show you had to audition to get in. We don’t take everybody.”
There is also a participation fee that varies from $295 to $450, depending on which show is being performed.
The cast of “Les Misérables” worked all summer to perfect this particular production. They rehearsed on Saturdays for a couple of months and have spent the last three weeks working out technical kinks and problems. While it is obvious that Cacciagioni has dedicated herself to this production, the passion of her actors and actresses is also apparent through their stunningly clear and in-tune vocals. Like their director, the performers have an emotional investment not only in “Les Misérables,” but also Encore Entertainers.
“This will be my ninth production with Encore Entertainers,” states Alison Schiller, who plays the role of Eponine. “If I could pick anything I wanted to do, this would be it.”
Cacciagioni has truly found a way to blend her past and the present together in this dynamic show. It is her hope that the musical will strike the hearts of not only her audience, but also her students, and inspire them the same way “Les Misérables” inspired her when she was younger.
Les Misérables, presented by Encore Entertainers, is being performed tomorrow and Saturday, as well as Friday, July 30, at 7:30 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. on Sunday and next Saturday, July 31, in the Mira Costa High School Auditorium, 1401 Artesia Blvd., Manhattan Beach. Tickets, $18 at the door. For more information, or to become involved with future productions of the company, visit encoreentertainers.org. ER