[I had planned to post a selection of published articles on two plays that attracted an unusual kind of attention that redounded to their benefit in terms of positive word of mouth. One is the now-Broadway musical Be More Chill by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz, which came out of obscurity in Red Bank, New Jersey, to delight audiences Off-Broadway in New York City and move to Broadway. The other is a high school play—that’s right, a teenage student production—adapted from the 1979 science-fiction movie thriller Alien.
[Both productions got viral play on social media and I was going to try to cover this 21st-century phenomenon that may be the harbinger of things to come in terms of publicizing a stage production, professional or amateur. Word of mouth has always been an important way a play gets attention from prospective theatergoers, but social media has made that spectator-to-spectator communication much more potent.
[When I started to prepare my selection for the combined post, however, I heard an announcement that Alien: The Play, the New Jersey high school production, which had only had two performances in its original run (Tuesday, 19 March, and Friday, 22 March 2019), would get an encore because of the social media coverage. I decided to save Be More Chill for another slot on Rick On Theater and devote this post entirely to the wonderful phenomenon of North Bergen High School’s Alien: The Play. Kudos to one and all in North Bergen, New Jersey! You all done real good—and I’m a former middle and high school theater teacher and director. ~Rick]
“School’s ‘Alien’ Slays Internet”
by Dave Itzkoff
[Itzkoff’s article was the first report I read on the reception North Bergen High’s Alien: The Play got in its brief appearance on the stage. It was published in the New York Times of 27 March 2019 in the “Arts” section.]
There are those perennial stage works that are perfectly suited to be performed in high schools across the country every year: say, “Our Town,” “The Crucible,” “Annie” or “The Wizard of Oz.”
And now, to this canon, you might add “Alien.”
A New Jersey high school has found itself the unexpected recipient of online acclaim and viral attention for its recent stage production of “Alien,” the 1979 science-fiction thriller.
“Alien: The Play,” presented last weekend by the drama club of North Bergen High School, starred a cast of eight students in the film roles originally played by Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Ian Holm.
Whereas the movie had a budget in the range of about $10 million, “Alien: The Play” had costumes, props and set designs made mostly from donated and recycled materials.
Both the film and the stage adaptation feature a nightmarish extraterrestrial designed by the artist H.R. Giger — played, in this production, by a high school student.
“Alien: The Play” is the brainchild of Perfecto Cuervo, an English teacher at the school and the moderator of its drama club, and Steven Defendini, an art teacher there.
Last year, the two teachers worked together on a student staging of “Night of the Living Dead,” the George Romero zombie movie [1968]. This past summer, they started to plan a follow-up.
As Mr. Cuervo recalled their conversation, he said, “Do you think we can do ‘Alien’ as a play?” It seemed to require few sets, he said: “We have a spaceship. We have a planet. It could be handled.”
Mr. Defendini said he answered, “I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know if we can do that. But we’re going to do that.”
The original “Alien” was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon. Released by 20th Century Fox, it is a claustrophobic horror film about the crew of a small outer-space vessel that encounters an unwelcome, nonhuman stowaway that has come to be known as the xenomorph. (Spoiler alert: The story doesn’t end well for most of them.)
The film was a substantial hit, critically and commercially, that burrowed itself deep in the cultural consciousness and started a decades-long film franchise.
Mr. Cuervo, who directed the students’ version, said he spent about a month and a half adapting it from the film. Casting took place in November; the crucial role of Ripley (the Sigourney Weaver character) went to Gabriella Delacruz, a senior at the school.
Ms. Delacruz, who had been in the school’s “Night of the Living Dead,” said that she was proud to carry on the feminist tradition that Ripley represents.
“She’s a female character who’s really portrayed as the hero at the end,” she said. “She isn’t the damsel in distress. She got to be a badass, if I’m allowed to say that.”
Xavier Perez, a sophomore, was chosen to play the xenomorph. “When we did the casting,” Mr. Cuervo said, “there was one person that showed up — a tall, skinny kid. I told him, ‘Well, I guess you’re it. You’ve got the part.’”
Rehearsals began in December, while Mr. Defendini, the play’s art director, oversaw the creation of exotic terrains and spaceship interiors, trying as best as possible to reproduce the aesthetic of the film.
“Some of the walls are covered in egg crates, not because it was the cheapest solution but because it was the most authentic,” Mr. Defendini said.
Using a variety of materials, some of which were donated by Tom Carroll Scenery, a stage production and design shop in Jersey City, the teachers estimated the total cost of the play was under $3,500.
The performances relied on an additional six student crew members, plus another five to ten who helped operate sound boards and lights and supply other special effects.
“We had four kids on laptops, doing sound effects, ambient noises and alien noises,” Mr. Cuervo said. “We used a lot of the band kids, because they know how to play instruments and they were really good with the cues.”
Though the original “Alien” movie is about to turn 40 years old, Mr. Defendini said its characters still resonated with his teenage students, who know its monsters from video games, pop-cultural lore and recent sequels like “Alien: Covenant.”
“We had kids in the crew who knew the specific genesis and species of the xenomorph,” he said. “What gender it is, what planet it’s from. Everything you could know.”
Asked if the drama club had sought official permission to present the play, Mr. Cuervo said, “Our main goal was really just to put on a great play for the kids, just get them out, stage front.”
(The Fox film studio was acquired earlier this month by the Walt Disney Company. A press representative for Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
“Alien: The Play” has drawn widespread praise on social media; an official promotional Twitter account for the “Alien” franchise said, “We are impressed! 40 years and still going strong …” and “Bravo!”
The comedian Patton Oswalt wrote, “This is fantastic. Blows my high school’s adaptation of PINK FLAMINGOS out of the water.”
An online trailer has received more than 130,000 views on YouTube, and the production was covered on news sites like The Verge and The AV Club.
Mr. Defendini pointed out that a tweet about “Alien: The Play,” posted by Leslye Headland, a co-creator of the Netflix series “Russian Doll,” had been liked by Joss Whedon, the writer and director of “The Avengers.”
That, he said, was sufficient validation for the students.
“For them, that’s enough, to be acknowledged by their favorite movie director,” Mr. Defendini said. “For a bunch of high school kids, I can’t imagine what it’s like to see how much recognition they’re getting for seven months of hard work.”
* * * *
“Sigourney Weaver Thinks High School Production of ‘Alien’ is Out of This World!”
by Josh Wells
[A TV news story I saw reported that actress Sigourney Weaver, the star of the original film, had praised the North Bergen cast and company for their work to create the stage adaptation of the movie on Instagram. The video and Josh Wells’s article on Weaver’s congratulations was posted on The Blast on 28 March at https://theblast.com/sigourney-weaver-alien-high-school-play/.]
It wasn’t long after a New Jersey high school put on their production of ‘Alien’ (yes, the 1979 Ridley Scott classic), that the internet erupted in praise faster than a chest burster. And now, Ripley herself is showering the kids with praise.
Sigourney Weaver, who played badass-Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, took to social media and applauded the students at North Bergen High School.
“It looked incredible. You put so much heart and soul into it,” Sigourney said in a video posted to the Alien Anthology Instagram page. She added, “The alien, I must say, looked very real to me.”
“Alien: The Play”, was presented by North Bergen High School, and it cast eight students to play the film roles originally by Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Tom Skerritt.
Sigourney goes on to say she is delivering her blessing on behalf of the film’s screenwriter Walter Hill, and the director of ‘Aliens’, James Cameron.
She ends her digital blessing with a tongue-in-cheek warning that the alien might still be alive, and “when opening your locker, do it very slowly”.
Hopefully she’s right, and next year we get to see a cat, a cyborg named Bishop, and flame throwers!
* * * *
“New Jersey high school’s celebrated ‘Alien’ play gets encore”
The Associated Press
[ABC News aired a report on the revival of the two-performance run of Alien: The Play on 16 April, the text of which is available at https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jersey-high-schools-celebrated-alien-play-encore-62434909.]
A New Jersey high schools stage production of Alien is coming back with help from the 1979 films director, Ridley Scott.
Alien: The Play was performed last month at North Bergen High School, which sits about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City.
Images of the productions elaborate sets and special effects drew a huge response online, and Scott wrote a letter to the school praising the students creativity.
Sigourney Weaver played the character Ellen Ripley in the movie that spawned a franchise. She taped a YouTube video in which she called the production “incredible.”
The plays director, teacher Perfecto Cuervo, said in an email that Scotts production company provided $5,000 so the school could put on an encore performance April 26.
“Date announced for North Bergen High School’s ‘Alien’ encore performance”
by Jim Beckerman
[Jim Beckerman reported on the encore performance in the North Bergen Record on 15 April (https://www.northjersey.com/story/entertainment/2019/04/15/north-bergen-high-school-alien-play-dates-announced/3473715002/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=amp&utm_campaign=speakable), providing a few additional details.]
It’s official. “Alien” has a sequel.
There will be an encore performance of the stage version of the classic 1979 sci-fi movie, which became a viral sensation when some enterprising North Bergen High School students produced it with eye-popping sets and effects.
On April 26 at 8 p.m., North Bergen will reprise the show, which was staged for only two performances in March. Those performances caused a tsunami of interest when a video posted the weekend of March 23 got some 3 million hits.
“We’re excited to be able to do it again,” said Brian Bonacci, a staff music teacher who did the lighting for the show.
People were bowled over by the technical sophistication and the ambitious look of this production, which was done for a modest $3,500 and made generous use of recycled materials. Ridley Scott, the director of the original film, and Sigourney Weaver, the original star, sent congratulations.
“It’s just been crazy,” said director-writer Perfecto Cuervo. “I don’t know if you ever get used to the attention, to be honest. But the kids are taking it in stride.”
Luckily, Cuervo and his drama club team saved their amazing set and costumes, which included a 15-foot “space jockey” and a hideous toothy “xenormorph” that exactly correspond to the ones in the film.
“Alien” will be staged at the North Bergen High School Auditorium, 7417 J.F.K. Boulevard, North Bergen. How many tickets will be on sale, and where people can get them, are details still to be worked out.
“We definitely have some tickets earmarked for any celebrities who might come,” Cuervo said.
“High School Production of Alien Will Get Encore Performance”
by Adam Hetrick
[In Playbill on 15 April (http://www.playbill.com/article/high-school-production-of-alien-will-get-encore-performance), Adam Hedrick added other interesting points coincidental to the re-mounting of North Bergen High’s Alien: The Play.]
North Bergen High School’s production of Alien: The Play, which drew praise from original film director Ridley Scott, will receive an encore performance on “Alien Day.”
North Bergan High School’s elaborate stage production of the 1979 sci-fi horror classic Alien, which made headlines last month after video footage went viral, will get an encore performance on April 26.
The date is known to Alien fans as “Alien Day,” and coincides with the film’s 40th anniversary. The news was announced on the franchise’s official Twitter account.
Twentieth Century Fox, which produced the lucrative film franchise, is also set to release a slate of Alien-related media that day, including new books on the making of the film, a series of Alien 40th Anniversary Shorts, comics, action figures, and 40th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD re-release of the film.
Fox is also slated to make some surprise announcements on that date, including a new project with Audible.