Whiz Kid: Bryan Nesdill and Centre Stage

Look out Broadway.

A  drama club, Centre Stage, is making its mark on RVC’s theater scene. Bryan Nesdill, a special education student, is the playwright and co-founder of the 30-member club that combines the general education student population with those with special needs. Each year, Nesdill takes on the task of adapting the storyline of popular musicals to reflect SSHS and the Rockville Centre communities.

This year’s production, titled Slick, is an adaptation of the popular musical Grease and will take place on May 24 at the high school. “I get ideas for the scripts from every play, movie and show that I see,” said Nesdill, who explained that in addition to writing he enjoys performing on stage. “I’m looking forward to doing the show at the end of the year.”

Nesdill, 19, is in his fifth year of SSHS’s Core II special education program and has been involved in local community theater in RVC since he was 7. The idea for the Centre Stage club was born in 2009 after an English teacher recognized Nesdill’s knack for writing.

“This is one of the few extracurricular activities that is available to the special education kids,” said MaryAnn Nesdill, Bryan’s mother. “People love their performances because you can see how the general education kids and the special education kids bond together beautifully.”

According to MaryAnn, the students in Centre Stage rehearse weekly for about seven months leading up to their performance. “The first year we were afraid no one would show up, but the auditorium was full and it has gotten bigger and bigger each year,” she said about the club’s growth.

Karen Zaffos, whose 17-year-old son Andrew is a special education student at SSHS and is a member of Centre Stage, said that Nesdill and his family take an active role in the preparations for each year’s production, from building the scenery to organizing fundraisers for the club. “Bryan is a wonderfully talented young man who has a great sense of humor and his family should be so proud of his accomplishments,” she said.

For all Center Stage productions, every aspect is student-run. “It is a unique theater experience where the special education students play the more prominent roles in the production and the general education students are supportive roles,” explained co-president and co-director, Danielle Aliotta.

Although the club is sometimes faced with the challenge of recruiting more general education students, according to co-president and co-director Kelly Kirk, all of the clubs members share a common goal. “We are all here for a reason and that's to make new friends and put on an amazing show at the end of the year,” Kirk said.