The Patriot Special Issue January 21, 2005 Senior Directed Cabaret takes center stage Jamie Valentine ‘05 direct, and this year’s directors are Meghan Mucciarelli and Mike The Senior Directed Cabaret is a DiMatessa. tradition begun ten years ago with the When she found out, Mucciarelli class of 1996. It was started as a said, “I jumped up and down and fundraiser for Project Graduation, screamed like a little girl, honestly.” which was also founded that same year. DiMatessa said, “I’ve wanted to In the past decade, this show has do this since freshman year. I want to earned a reputation as an off-the-wall be a director, so this is a great chance funny and very relatable production. to get some experience. And I was In ’96, then-seniors Beth excited to work with Meghan.” Wodnick and Brian Nocella were the Directing a show like this one is first directors. Since then, two seniors no easy task. The Senior Directed who are dedicated to theater at Cabaret is made up of several skits, all Township have been chosen by the selected, cast, and directed by previous year’s cast and crew as co- Mucciarelli and DiMatessa. Over the directors every year. summer, they read through dozens of It is an honor to be chosen to plays and episodes of TV shows to decide which ones would work best. Jamie Valentine / The Patriot The chosen skits range Directors Mike DiMatessa (left) and Meghan Mucciarelli from serious to romantic (center) work on a scene with actor, Carl Jewell ‘07. to funny. According to the directors, the hardest part was affect it,” said DiMatessa. Mucciarelli, the funniest casting. SDC is a different sort of show is “Just Be Frank”. “Seventy people auditioned, than a usual musical or play. According “We fell in love which was a huge jump from last to DiMatessa, “This isn’t just one with it,” she says. year,” DiMatessa said. “So many show, that if you can’t relate to it, Another of her good people wound up not getting you’re out. It’s all kinds of genres. favorite skits is “Scuba cast just because there weren’t enough There’s something for everyone.” Lessons” which she parts.” describes as being a The chosen cast, however, is Senior Directed runs on January romantic comedy. great to work with. 20 and 21 at 7:30 in the 11/12 Choosing the “Everyone treats it like a Auditorium. Jamie Valentine / The Patriot skits themselves was a lot director/actor relationship. They All proceeds benefit Project Actors rehearse a scene from “Seinfeld”. of work, but according to don’t let the fact that we’re kids Graduation. Interact aids tsunami victims Helping Hands project raises funds to assist disaster recovery Scott Grandrino ‘05 Tori Gilbert ’07 asked Interact club selling hands for a dollar. The advisor Ms. Tracy Naval what they hands represent helping The devastating tsunami that could do to help the Tsunami victims. hands. struck southern Asia has destroyed “She saw the destruction and “It’s a way to repre- almost everything in its path and left wanted to do something,” said Naval sent our efforts,” said Naval. thousands homeless. Many groups of Gilbert’s interest. The club hopes to make around the world are helping in some Gilbert wasn’t the only one who $1,200. With the money, way with relief effort. Our school’s wanted to help with relief efforts. they will purchase a tractor Interact club is one of these groups. Ms. Harner, a faculty member at trailer container. The con- During an Interact club meeting, our school, had a former roommate tainer will hold materials like who was from Sri Lanka, clothes, food and blankets, one of the small towns in and any extra money the southern Asia that was club makes will go to buying badly hit. Harner’s whatever is needed to help. Amanda Matticks ‘07 and Raul Fajardo roommate’s family still The goods will be shipped to lives in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka. ‘07 work to help the cause. Harner, just like Gil- For Interact to achieve their goal of goal and exceed it.” Right now their bert, went to Naval to ask $1,200, they will need the generous expectation is ahead of pace and it for help. The Interact help of the students. looks like they will make more than club then decided to start “It depends on how generous the stu- their goal. a fundraiser to gain money dents are,” said Naval, speaking about You can purchase a hand from an In- photos Joe Comerford ‘05/ The Patriot for the victims in need. her hopes for the fundraiser. teract club member in your lunch Students lend a helping hand after school. Interact members are Naval expects the club to “reach their period or K-105 after school. WTHS The Patriot Page 1 Point/Counter-point: Can the Eagles Migrate to Jacksonville? Yes, the Birds will be flying No, this year will be the South this winter same as the others

Scott Grandrino ’05 Tom Reed ‘05

This year is the year. I’m tired of always using the excuse “well, It is playoff time and football fans in the Philadelphia there’s always next year.” The excuse won’t be used this area have a great deal of confidence in their 13-3 Eagles. Fans year. The Eagles are going to the Super Bowl. are confident that after years As everyone knows and constantly keeps saying, the of frustration they will finally NFC is very weak this year. And this is very true. The be going all the way this year. NFC consists of the Eagles and… all the other teams. There I agree that the Eagles are is no one that posts a threat to Philadelphia. a very solid team, but despite Even though the finished 11-5 in their good record, I doubt the second place, they’re a doubtful threat. Plus Atlanta has Eagles will find much more success this year then they to come here to play, in cold weather, outside the dome. have in the last few. It’s true And if Michael Vick tries to run, will be that the Eagles have only lost sure to remind him what happened last time Atlanta 3 times this season, but they came to town. were 3 very ugly losses, This year’s team is the best it’s been in a very, very including a 27-3 loss to the long time. They are much better than the Eagles of the past AFC leading Pittsburgh three years. Steelers, which in my opinion, First off, the defense is better and more solid against is a glimpse of what the both the run and pass. playoffs will hold for the Bringing in , and bringing back Eagles. and Hugh Douglass, improved the Basically I think that a Eagles run defense. team worthy of the Super Bowl Also the pass defense stepped up with first time should be more consistent starters, Pro-Bowler, and Sheldon Brown. then the Eagles have proven to be. They Eagles have had a has played this whole year long as one of the best handful of losses or close games against teams they should strong safety in the league. When you add veteran free safety Brian have annihilated, like the Redskins(6-10) and Browns(4-12). Dawkins to the mix, you have arguable the best secondary in the NFL. The Eagles simply did not show up to play in these games. (And here’s a fun little fact. Dawkins, Lewis, and Sheppard all made the Some teams have tough schedules and are better then Pro-Bowl and are all starters.) their records would indicate, however I think the opposite is Second, even without T.O. the Birds’ offense is still deadly. The true for the Eagles. A lot of their games have been against Eagles have weapons that will step up and make big plays. teams in their division, none of which finished with more then , Greg Lewis, L.J. Smith, Freddie Mitcell, and Chad 6 wins. Aside from Green Bay, the Eagles don’t have many Lewis will all be just a few players that know their roles on the team and convincing wins against teams with good records. Also, despite only allowing 260 points this year, the Eagles know when to step up. have a few problems on defense this year. For example their run This year we have something on offense that we didn’t have last defense did horrible against the Steelers. The Steelers running year. . game destroyed the Eagles in 4 embarrassing quarters of football. Westbrook’s play has contributed to the Eagles winning season. I predict that the Eagles will lose in the Conference Finals. They He and McNabb are the birds’ two biggest weapons and they sure will will lose just like they have the past few years, in the same do some damage against opponents this postseason. disappointing fashion And finally, the Eagles have a lot riding on them. They’re tired To be honest, I thought the Eagles were going all the way in of hearing from the media about losing the past three straight NFC the beginning of the season, but they’ve given me doubt (like championship games, and they’re also tired of critics saying that they do every year) towards the end. They’ve lost the past 2 they are going to be the biggest disappointment because of the loss games, and lost their star , Terrell Owens, which is of T.O. obviously not best the way to end the regular season. There In the beginning of the season everyone picked them to represent aren’t many teams with more talent then the Eagles, but there are the NFC in the super bowl. And even now, without T.O., I’m still a lot of teams that want it more then they do. sticking with this team, no matter what anyone says. Are the Eagles a good team with a solid record? Yes. Are they good enough to win the super bowl? This is their year. Go get’em birds! I doubt it. WTHS The Patriot Page 2