Rapunzel Lets Down Her Hair in Production of ‘Tangled’

Once upon a time, there was a girl with long, golden hair. Of course:  Rapunzel. You may not know about Gothel, the old woman who confines Rapunzel to the story’s infamous tower or a plot involving a stolen royal crown.

Unless you know “Tangled,” an updated take on the fairy tale.

Twenty-five elementary school students performed “Tangled” Friday for an audience of about 80 people at the .

Hurld first grade teacher Carol Carney started the summer drama program at the Hurld School two summers ago, and an after-school drama program at the school in September of 2007, Carney said after the actors took their bows. Carney holds a degree in theater arts, she said, and a master’s in early childhood education.

“My whole idea,” Carney said, was, “Let’s put on a show.” She loves to “watch the kids grow as actors.”

Students from several Woburn elementary schools, including, Carney said, the , , , and performed Friday. In two weeks another group of thespians will perform “Alladin.”

Maureen Kozachuk, Diane Brogna and Linda Girolamo help with the drama program. So does Carney’s daughter, Katherine, who just got her first teaching job.  Her theater specialties:  dance and costume-making.

To prepare for each production, students meet Tuesday through Friday for three hours a day for two weeks, Carney said.

Student actor Matt Tremblay, who played Flynn in “Tangled,” said he’s been in the drama program since he was in third grade at the Clapp Elementary School. He’ll be a sixth-grader at in the fall. He started in the drama program because, he said, his mother wanted him to do something after school, and he knew Carney’s daughter. He enjoys the program because “all the teachers are nice” and “I’m good at it.”

Sarah Weber, who played Gothel, said she’s had “a lot of fun doing different types of plays.” She, too, has performed on stage since, she said, she was in first or second grade. Sarah moves from the Hurld  Elementary School to the in the fall.

Among the other characters in “Tangled” are thugs, guards, Gothel’s confidant and helpers, a bird and a trio of mice.

Nancy Nille’s daughter, Sarah, played a hoodlum sister; Joanne Fishlin’s daughter, Isabelle, a mouse. Neither girl had done drama before, according to their mothers. The girls are friends, according to their mothers, and both girls decided to give it a try this time. Both mothers said they think their daughters will continue to perform on stage.

Teacher Carney has great enthusiasm, Joanne Fishlin commented.

After the actors took their bows, they raced “backstage” into the school lobby, slipped off their costumes and became elementary school students and soon-to-be middle school students in casual summer clothes again.

The "Tangled" cast, in program order:

Nicole McNaughton, Anvi Dayma, Gretchen Magill, Ali Hurley, Sarah Weber, Riley Aptt, Shreya Srinivasa, Marcie Ruelle, Peter Ruelle, Jenna Taylor, Julia Taylor, David DiFrumolo, Shawn O'Connor, Sarah Nille, Molly Coyne, Nahimah Milad, Isabelle Fishlin, Cora Soderquist, Madison Baxter, Isabella LoRusso, Nora Doherty, Matt Tremblay, Ethan Tremblay and drama assistants Rachel McNeil and Danielle DiFrumolo.