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Freaky Friday
October 2024 saw the reveal of this year’s Secondary Production of ‘Freaky Friday’. With just one community theatre production and a WAAPA production earlier this year in WA since its premiere in 2016, St Mark’s was extremely excited and privileged to be the first school in the state to take on the classic body swap comedy.
Auditions took place in February with close to 100 students putting their best foot forward. 49 talented students were cast and worked tirelessly throughout Terms 1 and 2, with two rehearsals per week. Tuesdays focused on the principal and featured ensemble scenes and small group choreography, while Thursdays allowed the whole cast to work together on a weekly basis.
A weekend boot camp was held in March, which focused on teamwork and camaraderie, and was a wonderful way to bring the team together early in the process. As Term 1 drew to a close, the cast and band were beginning to master their lines, choreography, songs and music as the pieces of the puzzle began to come together.
Come Term 2, our talented band began their rehearsals with a predominantly student ensemble tackling the challenging score. They rehearsed weekly, parallel to the cast rehearsals, and the elements of Freaky Friday really began to build. Students took a deep dive into this challenging contemporary musical as rehearsals ramped up with song work, choreography, character and accent workshops, band rehearsals and crew training sessions in partnership with our newly established Stage Squad.
The Term 2 holidays saw close to 90 cast, crew, band members and staff collaborate over five intensive days in what became known as ‘Tech Week’ to bring all the elements of this magical show together. From lighting and sound to costume, set transitions, Front of House and music, all the pieces fell into place. The Friday of Tech Week saw a ‘Soft Opening’ which (in the tradition of many American theatre programs) saw the friendliest audience around as the theatre was filled with plush toys and animals—a wonderfully warm way to ease into Production Week.
As Production Week arrived, the anticipation was high as ‘Freaky Friday was presented to a small audience of local Drama Teachers at Tuesday’s Final Dress and Tech before all the excitement of Opening Night on Wednesday. What followed was a vibrant week with four public shows for full houses and enthusiastic audiences. The energy at each and every show was electric as students acted, sang and danced up a storm. The feedback from staff, parents and community members was amazing, with Principal Steven Davies labelling it his favourite St Mark’s Musical during his time at the school.
A huge congratulations to our amazing Performing Arts students who were involved in the Cast, Crew and Band. They did St Mark’s proud with their incredible work:
CAST
Rhianna Cole, Emily Prestage, Charlie Riley, Toby Green, Blake Carter, Elise Wilkin, Georgia Plant, Tyeesha Jayatilika, Zoe Dolan, Kurtis Worth, Lachy Goldfinch, Abigail Hammill, Lily Robinson, Lara Baddock, Ayla Colquhoun, Phoebe Love, William Dolan, Jasmine Mansell, Ryan Schutze, Olivia Murphy, Bella Cooper, Kendall Chin, Maya Sharp, Dylan Cillie, Ruby Spath, Neveah Zhou, Asha Pressley, Neesha Amin, Madeline Calvert, Taylor Collins, Arabella Corbett, Beth Davis, Wes Goldfinch, Alexis Halsall, Isabella Hocking, Olivia Jancey, Sydney Jodas, Rosie King, Alela Langley, Francesca Lei-Nguyen, Ellie Martin, Everleigh May, Delani May, Marshall Munro-Smith, Saskia Newton, Mitali Pillai, Emily Smith, Emily Whittingham and Eden Wright.
BAND
Taj Jayatilika, Levi Jeffs, Jett Newton, Finn Gethin, Matilda Patrick, Daniel Ciccullo and Tate Longman.
CREW
Sydney Jodas, Lola Cesarello, Olivia Dando, Ruby Devereux, Cara Bennett, Tristan Plant, Jack Owen, Makalia Smith, Evelyn Lennox, Josie McCallum, Ben King, Sophie Lake, Lexie Ashby, Kale Lind, Emilia Callaghan, Stella Coady, Eddie Carter, Mathis Johnson, Lulu Edwards, Ansh Gupta, Dylan Langley, Summer Neervort, Isabella Cheung, Finn Lemmon, Alyssa Neill and Jessica Lee.
Pulling off a production of this scale takes a village, and a massive congratulations and thank you to our incredible staff team and external specialists for their dedication across the whole process:
CORE STAFF TEAM
- Catherine Clarnette- Musical Director
- Leah Guelfi - Vocal Director
- Carissa Tucker- Choreographer
- Sophie David- Assistant Choreographer
- Margaret Prouse- Costume Coordinator
- Suzie Croke- Costume Assistant
- Jaina van Reyk- Administration and Rehearsal Assistant
SUPPORT STAFF TEAM
- Joel Smith- Crew Coordinator
- David Goldfinch - Keyboard 1
- Justin Farinosi and Talitha Broughton- Woodwinds
- Stuart Ferguson- Trumpet
- Luke Carter- Bass Guitar
- Katie Fassom- Photography and Program Design
- Stella Coskun- Backstage and Rehearsal Assistant
- Emma Leadon- Backstage and Rehearsal Assistant
- Devlin Turbin- Lighting Design and Operation
- Nick Ireland- Sound Design and Operation
- Sam Knox- Scenic Painting
- Rosie Martin and Devon Hollywood- Set Design and Construction
- Steve Moloney, Zac Moloney and Ellien van Heerwaarden- Props Construction
We are extremely proud of the incredible achievement that was ‘Freaky Friday’, a show that really taught us to be grateful for those around us, accept our differences and find that piece of you inside that makes us unique. Congratulations to all involved, and thank you to all who supported the 2025 St Mark’s Theatre Company Production.
We can’t wait to do it all again!
Mr Chris McRae
Head of Drama and Director of ‘Freaky Friday’