New Roads Students Will Perform "Waiting for Godot" This Weekend

Director Worked 
With Beckett In Paris

   By any measure, it's an extraordinary event. 
   "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett is one of the 20th century's masterpieces -- a play which altered the literary and dramatic landscape in profound ways and continues to influence novelists and poets as well as playwrights. 
   This weekend, this complex, demanding play will be performed by four New Roads School students: Grady DiPietro, Eighth Grade, as Vladimir; Tom Martinez, Seventh Grade, as Estragon; Michael Feldman, Eleventh Grade, as Lucky; and Christopher Kaufman, Twelfth Grade, as Pozzo. Jamison Cluchey, 5, son of director Rick Cluchey, will appear as Boy. 
   The genesis of the production is nearly as complex as the play itself. New Roads' founder Paul Cummins and Cluchey, an actor/director who worked with Beckett in Paris, were brought together by a mutual friend, actor Alan Mandell. Cummins then introduced Cluchey to Antonia Carnevale who runs the theater department at New Roads. Almost immediately, they decided that Cluchey should direct a production of "Godot" at the school. 
   The department has always had a predilection for serious, challenging plays. Previous New Roads' productions include Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Shaw's "St. Joan," Brecht's "Galileo," and Sophocles' "Antigone." 
   "Godot" was cast in the late fall. Carnevale said, "Any trepidation I had about the material being out of reach of the students was swept away when I watched them work with Rick. Tom Martinez, who plays Estragon, sometimes sports his bowler at school and transcribes passages from the play into his writing journal. All the boys worked hard. They rehearsed every day over their winter break.  They're very attached to Rick and Mr. Beckett." 
In January, Oxford Television filmed the actors rehearsing with Cluchey and Mandell, who has coached them on aspects of their performances. 
   New Roads' drama department's production of "Waiting for Godot" will be performed twice -- Saturday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 4, at 2 p.m. in the Crossroads School Community Room, located above the gymnasium, at 1715 Olympic Boulevard. Admission is free, but seating is limited. For reservations, phone Carnevale at (310) 587-2255.