‘Einstein’s Brains’ takes Old Orchard stage
February 6, 2012 4:30PM
Kyra Sarris is Swamp Thing The Dog in Old Orchard Junior High School's annual all-school play. "Einstein's Brains" was staged last week at the school. | Joe Cyganowski~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:23AM
Nearly a couple dozen students took to the stage last week for an original play called “Einstein’s Brains: A Relatively True Story” at Old Orchard Junior High School.
One can gather from the title that the show had an inventive and playful side to it, which is no surprise coming from local playwright Philip Dawkins.
Old Orchard Junior High first worked with Dawkins a couple of years ago when it staged “The Skokie Detective Charter School.”
Like all of Dawkins’ plays, this one had a plethora of fun parts — roles with names like Einstein’s Brain, Dr. Frankenstein, Swamp Thing, Einstein’s Real Brain, and, perhaps, the most difficult name every to grace a playbill, Eaauyerruaewrrgghhhg.
That’s doesn’t even include the zombies and zombie horde members.
Dawkins has always had a knack for creating silly and fun characters in playful stories that students can’t wait to embrace.
So much so that the school has continued its relationship with Dawkins. There’s a great educational benefit to having a playwright available to students who will be playing the parts he writes, educators say.
When Dawkins appeared at the school for the first time for the staging of “The Skokie Detective Charter School,” he was asked what it’s like to watch one of his plays actually come to life on stage?
“If it’s really great, it’s awesome,” Dawkins said then. “It’s either really awful, and that’s kind of hard to watch, or it’s exactly what I thought it would be and that’s so great because that’s what I expected, or it’s better than I expected and that’s great, too.”
Drama teacher Melinda Russo oversaw this year’s production as she did “The Skokie Detective Charter School.” She said then that the opportunity for students to work with a playwright is invaluable.
“I want kids to have as many options as possible in their lives, and I think a career in fine arts is one option if they choose it,” Russo said. “Meeting someone like Philip Dawkins can only give them better understanding of what life offers.”
— Mike Isaacs
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