A scene from Gianna Beluzo’s play “Grandma’s Jewelry.”
Reminder Publishing photos by Amy Porter
WESTFIELD — The second session of the Parks & Recreation Department’s Summer Act Theater Group presented its culminating program after two weeks of summer camp on July 25 in the Westfield Intermediate School auditorium. Among the one-act plays performed was one written by a former camper.
The play, “Grandma’s Jewelry” which opened the show was written by 16-year-old Gianna Beluzo of Westfield, a home-schooled 11th grader with a dual enrollment in Greenfield Community College.
Beluzo was thrilled to hear her first play performed. “I’m really grateful I had the opportunity,” she said, thanking theater camp director Kathleen Palmer for giving it to her.
“Kathi’s been really nice,” she said.
Beluzo was honored as the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year in April where she also participated in drama and competitive dance. She said she always enjoyed writing, but hadn’t thought about writing plays until getting involved in the theater group.
“After being an actor for a little while for theater camp, I could picture the characters. I really like to write dialogue, and envision what the people are saying,” she said, adding that when she tries to write a story these days, her focus is on dialogue. “I can develop the characters through their dialogue, what they’re saying. That’s what I love about it.”
Beluzo said the story of “Grandma’s Jewelry” came to her from a prompt in theater camp last summer, before she aged out of the program. She worked on it off and on throughout the year, and was grateful to be able to meet with Palmer.
“It’s a dream come true. It’s on my bucket list. I always wanted to write and have something finished,” Beluzo said, adding, ”I’m excited to see how the kids put it on.”
The play is about two girls who have costume jewelry from one of their grandmothers. When two thieves try to steal it, the play takes a look at the difference between monetary value and sentimental value.
Also featured in the cast is the girl’s mother who brings her the old jewelry box that she found, a television anchorwoman who warns the public about the home thefts, and a police officer who nabs the thieves.
The play closes with the message that different things are valuable to different people. “Sometimes the memory is just as nice.”
At the start of the show, Palmer welcomed the audience of families and friends and staff from the Parks and Rec Department. “Your kids were absolutely fabulous. They did a marvelous job, they have managed to do in two weeks what it takes adults two months to put together,” she said.
The cast of 18 students ages 9 to 15 also performed “The Slumber Party” by Claire Boiko, featuring an “alien” visitor, “The Note” by Kathleen Palmer, a horror story that takes place in a cemetery, “The Skill of Pericles” by Paul T. Nolan, highlighting different skills people have and “A Better Mousetrap” by Colleen Newman, in which a mouse gets the better of a homeowner.
The theater camp troupe of eighteen included Alex Deland, Gloria Spence, Harper Cekovsky, Lucia Colina, Clara Gonzalez, Ava Supinski, Mia Tansey, Lily Capistrant, Taylor Clingensmith, Addison Dooley, Emily Latham, Asli Niyazova, Annika Walker, Emma Walsh, Gabi Mascarenhas, Ella Tansey, Aaden Saltmarsh-Gamelli and Mya Brown.
Palmer said she makes sure that every camper gets a scene. “They all deserve that chance. It takes so much courage. How they put it all together is beyond me,” she said.
In the program, she also gave special thanks to Gianna Beluzo, former cast member of the Summer Act Theater Group and the author of “Grandma’s Jewelry.”
“We thank her for the opportunity to perform her original play,” Palmer said.
