‘The play’s the thing’: Sophomore finds joy in acting, directing

Sophomore Amelia Berardo and the 11 other performers took their final bows in the Merrill Gardens Retirement Home in Campbell last summer, just as a woman joined the rest of the audience. The performers proceeded to pack up and chat with the audience, but the woman stuck around to personally address the each cast member.

“I saw that she was crying and shaking everyone's hands, telling them how incredible they were,” Berardo said. “She saw me and made sure she grabbed my hand too — she couldn't leave anybody out.”

Touching moments like this have become a regular occurrence for the members of Giving Individuals Fabulous Theater (GIFT), an organization created by alumnus Jack McCarthy in 2013.

“GIFT's main goal is to bring theater to those who can't go out and see it because of any number of restrictions,” Berardo said. “We primarily perform at assisted-living facilities and similar homes for senior citizens.” The organization also often performs at the Sub-Acute Saratoga Children’s Hospital.

Although GIFT has a targeted audience of individuals who may not have easy access to theater, the group also books public shows in the Saratoga area for anyone to enjoy. During these performances, the audience is welcome to donate to GIFT or a charity selected by the crew, for instance, the Saratoga Children’s hospital, the Saint Thomas Church or the Alzheimer's Association.

When Berardo joined the group in seventh grade after receiving an invitation from McCarthy, she soon felt at home. Her immersion into the tight-knit theater crowd provided her with a warm and welcoming environment while she “was going through a bit of a rough patch” after finding out her parents were getting divorced during that time.

“Once the rehearsals began for my first show, I immediately made incredible friends,” Berardo said. “They were all weird theater kids who loved puns too much, and it opened up this whole world of new people to me.”

Since joining the group, Berardo has been involved in seven productions.

Her passion for theater runs deep and is hardly a surprise. Having been born in London and growing up in Kew, England, she remembers writing, directing and starring in shows for adults as a child.

She also took part in the shows put on by her montessori school, an education system that avoids using formal instruction to promote the development of children’s interests. After moving to America at age 6, Berardo attended theater summer camps during her elementary school years.

At SHS, Berardo currently takes Drama 3, and has starred in the productions “Cyrano de Bergerac” as Le Bret, “Pride and Prejudice” as Kitty Bennet, and “Almost, Maine” as Rhonda and Marvalyn With her extensive experience in performing, she sees every new role as a chance to channel a version of herself.

“Whenever I play a new character, I always relate to them on some level,” Berardo said. “I’ve never played a character that I don’t relate to in some way, and it just allows me to sort of express myself in the best way possible.”

Now, as one of the directors for GIFT, Berardo has a larger and sometimes more stressful role in the organization. She has directed one play titled “Check, Please,” which she, along with her stage manager and four-person cast, worked over the course of a month to perform at Saratoga Retirement Community, Cedar Crest and Sunrise of Sunnyvale last December.

“Overall, that first show was more of a test trial to see if I have any skills with directing at all, and I like to think that I do,” Berardo said.

To her, the biggest difference between directing and acting is the weight of the responsibility that comes with each role. While actors primarily focus on their individual parts, directors must keep the entire show in order.

“It’s just very stressful with show days just because you never know what’s going to happen,” Berardo said. “Anything can go wrong, and I always just have to be ready to just fix it.”

But leading a production also comes with its perks, as the play as a whole becomes more meaningful — both through  Berardo’s interpretation of the play and through the hard work she puts into the final product. Watching her production come together during rehearsals gives Berardo a sense of pride.

“They’re all doing it sort of just for me and my stage manager,” Berardo said. “It’s always sort of fun to watch this thing that has happened because of me.”

She hopes to progressively work on longer shows with larger casts, and she would like to direct the play “A Servant of Two Masters,” before she graduates. Still, even simply acting with GIFT provides Berardo with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

“The feeling of bringing joy and art to people who can't regularly experience it [is] just so incredible,” Berardo said.