By EVA HANEGRAAFF and BEN RUSSELL

NORTH READING — While everyone remembers “Newsies,” “Pippin,” and “Spongebob,” Masquers’ most recent show is said to be the most impactful yet.  “Mean Girls the Musical,” in addition to being a comedy, gives Masquers a whole new challenge, taking on a very serious theme.

The theme of this show is about relationships, peer pressure, and judgment. “It’s social satire,” explains Masquers’ president Sofia Naulivou. “It talks about the struggles that a teen girl goes through just being in society and being a part of certain relationships,” she said, adding, “The message behind this show is so important and in showing situations that are real and happened to all of us.”

Other members of the show feel similarly. Vasiliki Kouiroukidis, Masquers’ historian, playing Janis Ian, gives her perspective. “It’s a much more realistic life setting that puts into perspective a lot of realistic situations that we deal with every day,” she said.

Elliana Rainey, a two-year Masquers’ member and underclassmen representative, explains, “If you focus on the big picture, you’ll be able to get so much out of this show.”

To best demonstrate this message, it was important that the actors understood the underlying meaning fully themselves. “We’ve had so many discussions, like as a cast where we’ve had the ability to sit down and talk through all of the meanings that this show represents,” explained Eulalia Agganis, a four-year Masquers member, who portrays Regina George. She add, “I feel really grateful as an actor that we have the space where we can talk through things because it’s really allowed me to really understand and have empathy for all of the meanings that this show represents.”

One theme that has been brought up by this show is the presence of social media that was not as prevalent at the time of the movie. Matt Mulcahy, Masquers vice president who portrays Damian Hubbard, explains the importance of this topic being included. “We use social media so much more now as a weapon rather than something that can bring us together,” he said.

This theme is especially important when taking into account the audience of NRHS high schoolers who typically come to see Masquers’ productions. Alivia Rowe, who plays Cady Heron in the show, explained the importance of appealing to the high school audience by saying, “I think there is also something to be said about teenagers playing teenagers versus like grown adults.” She continued, “I think that there really is no one better to depict the struggles and the relationships happening between teenagers than teenagers.”

This show marks a new undertaking for the North Reading Masquers program in another way as it takes on other challenges never before attempted. Senior cast member Vinny Constantino, who plays Aaron Samuels, explained, “This show is by far the most complicated and most impressive show we’ve ever put on here.”

Anthony Spina, a five-year Masquers member and Treasurer this year who plays Kevin G., explains some of these challenges. “This is the most dance heavy show we’ve ever done.”

Another new experience Masquers has taken on in producing this show is how they get into character. Each actor has their own opinion on whether a realistic show makes this process easier or more difficult. Rowe describes her experience in saying, “I feel like for this show, at least speaking for myself, the character is right on the surface for me.” She explains that it was not as difficult to find the meaning and motivations behind the lines, and “Mean Girls” gave her a greater understanding and connection to her character that she did not experience to the same level in other shows, in particular last year’s production of “Spongebob the Musical.”

On the other hand, some Masquers members felt that the show’s complex underlying meaning posed a challenge to finding the motivations of their characters. Mulcahy also explains his experience in relation to last year’s Spongebob show. “I found that playing a cartoon character, you have to be what everyone expects you to be,” he said, adding, “It was easier for me personally to find the meaning behind the lines because the characters are so surface-level.”

Putting together “Mean Girls” was not only a challenge on the acting side of things, as so much goes into creating the show on the tech side as well. “There are so many things moving on and off the stage constantly and we have to make sure that we’re getting the best use out of what we can make,” explains Naulivou. To do this, Naulivou said that the show utilizes double sided pieces to be arranged in different ways for various scenes. “Everything in the show is there for a reason,” she said.

As officers, there are specific extra responsibilities that these Masquers have to take on as well. “As the leaders in this group, we have to be able to problem solve,” Naulivou explains, adding, “I mean, it’s live theater, things are going to go wrong.”

Mulcahy adds to this idea in explaining, “A large part of Masquers is that all our shows are student-run. We as the officers all play important roles in each of the productions.” While this is clearly not an easy thing to accomplish, Mulcahy assures the audience that “it’s really all just a well-oiled machine.”

A Masquers’ show never disappoints and that can be attributed to any of their many challenging undertakings; however, the most prominent one was explained by Mikey Manupelli, Masquers’ secretary, who said, “every year we try and do something extra, we want a ‘wow’ factor.”  With every show being so different, one can see how this is a goal they have been able to accomplish, creating a show that is always more impressive than the prior year.

Tickets sold online

Opening night is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. followed by shows on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Friday, Dec. 13, both at 7 p.m., with a closing matinee on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 4 p.m. Masquers advises that due to mature themes and strong language, this show may not be appropriate for all ages and, thus, is recommended for children 13 and older. There is assigned seating and tickets cost $15 for students and senior citizens and $20 for adults. Tickets are selling out fast, so get yours now by visiting: https://ticketstage.com/tsbf/ts.ticketlinks.gen.

NRHS senior Eva Hanegraaff is a student intern at the Transcript for the 2024-25 school year. She wants to use her internship to learn about the field of journalism and bring a high school voice to the Transcript. To inquire about article ideas or news tips, contact Hanegraaff at evahanegraaff@gmail.com. Co-author Ben Russell is a NRHS student and a member of the school’s Newspaper Club, The Buzz (thenorthreadingbuzz.com).