Clarkstown South Junior Youngest Cast Member of Play At Nyack's Elmwood Playhouse

Like many other 16-year-olds, Ariela Nazar-Rosen will take the SAT on June 4 and ACT on June 11.

Unlike most others, however, the night before each, as well as the evening of both, she will be onstage performing in a play. More accurately, she is the only 16-year-old taking both exams while performing in The Rose Tattoo at Nyack’s Elmwood Playhouse, as she is also the youngest cast member in the show.

“It’s a lot,” said the junior from Clarkstown South who lives in New City. “It’s hard being a student in this production, but everyone else has jobs too and is doing this on the side. It’s great to see everyone working so hard and putting so much into this show.”

Rehearsal for the play started back in March, and the play opened last weekend, with shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be performances of the Tennessee Williams play every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from now until June 11 with tickets on sale at the box office or online for most shows still available.

In addition to the SAT and ACT exams, Nazar-Rosen is also in three Advanced Placement (AP) classes, United States History, Statistics and Literature & Composition. The exams for those three AP classes fell about two weeks before the show opened. So far, the heavy schedule hasn’t forced her to neglect her studies. Nazar-Rosen said she would bring her review books with her to rehearsal to read them over backstage when she had some downtime. The show’s director, Jacqueline McElroy-Poquette, said her youngest performer hasn’t lost focus on the show, either.

“She’s given me everything she has to give,” McElroy-Poquette said. “She hasn’t cheated me in any way. She’s very willing to work and very willing to learn.”

Nazar-Rosen said she’s done a lot of learning on the set, as well, as this is her first time doing community theater after performing in the play her freshman year at South, taking classes at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City and performing in SUNY Purchase’s Shakespeare Institute. Of all the areas her cast mates have helped her with, Nazar-Rosen said one sticks out as the area received the most help in.

“Just being natural and really making character’s words and actions seem as natural as possible,” she said. “The naturalness is something I’ve been working on through this process.”

Another thing the cast has helped her with is trying to use her own experiences to help her relate to her character. In the show, Nazar-Rosen plays Rosa, a 14-year-old girl from a traditional Italian-American family whose father dies in a car accident. At the funeral, a woman shows up and it’s discovered the father was having an affair with her, causing Rosa’s mother to go back against everything she once believed in. The play spans a three-year time period, and Rosa’s mother doesn’t really let Rosa go out and experience the world or simply do things other girls her age might do, such as going out with boys or going on a picnic.

“[Rosa’s ] a flighty girl who wants to break away a bit. I like that, I think it’s fun,” Nazar-Rosen said. “I’m not really like that. I’m not super flighty. I’m energetic, but it’s different.”

Nazar-Rosen said her mother is very supportive, although was a bit surprised when her daughter ended up auditioning for the play. Nazar-Rosen said she was looking for a play to tryout for, found the one at Elmwood Playhouse on their website and told her mother about the auditions a few weeks beforehand. She said her mother wasn’t sure if she was going to go through with auditioning until a few days before when she brought the tryouts back up.

“I just really wanted to be in a show,” Nazar-Rosen said. “I missed being able to focus on a character.”

The show’s four-weekend run is the longest-running performance Nazar-Rosen has been a part of so far, and the longest she’s had to focus on one character.

“I just need to make sure I always think about the character and never lose that,” Nazar-Rosen said. “I want to make sure I keep her alive.”

Nazar-Rosen said the play’s first three shows last weekend went well, as did McElroy-Poquette. Despite some nervousness leading into the first show, Nazar-Rosen said she felt at ease once she stepped on the stage and could feel the crowd’s energy. A similar situation played out leading to the first rehearsals.

“At first I was nervous because everyone was so much more experienced than me and I felt like I wasn’t up to their standards,” Nazar-Rosen said.

She didn’t have reason to worry, though, as she fit in with the rest of the cast right away, McElroy-Poquette said.

“Her social skills are terrific and everybody loves her,” McElroy-Poquette said. “She is lovely to everybody. I really do have a great affection for her.”

Nazar-Rosen feels similarly about the rest of the cast and crew, as well.

“Everyone’s been just so supportive,”Nazar-Rosen said. “I just feel like I’m part of the family. When it comes down to it, the ages and me being the youngest are no problem.”

One of the cast members Nazar-Rosen cited as being especially supportive is Robin Peck, who plays the show’s lead, Serafina Della Rosa, Rose’s mother. Peck, of River’s Edge, N.J., said she was hoping Nazar-Rosen would get the part after reading together at auditions.

“When I auditioned, I auditioned with several young ladies. There was something about her that I was hoping she would be chosen,” Peck said. “She’s got a very sweet and endearing presence. She is someone you can trust on stage.”

Peck said in order to trust another actor on stage, you have to know that actor is listening to the others on stage, that they’re prepared and have done their homework. She said they have to also learn their lines, but also have an understanding for their character. Nazar-Rosen displays those qualities to Peck.

“She has a maturity and a great sense of responsibility not always found in young actors,” Peck said.

Nazar-Rosen said she hopes to continue acting after The Rose Tattoo and even after her time at South. She said she is thinking about possibly majoring in English Literature in college with a minor if theater.

“I would really love to participate in plays in college,” she said. “I love it. It’s so great. Each new role is a new challenge.”