A Hardwood Oasis: Mahanoy native producing digital play at Cooper

SHENANDOAH – “A hardwood oasis in a world of dust, a way to live when survival is hard enough, a life force found and drained.”

That’s how cinematographer Devin Chen, Athens, Ohio, described The Tall Girls by Meg Miroshnik, which Mahanoy City native Sarah Elizabeth Yorke is currently producing.

Yorke, formerly Shenandoah Valley Drama Club’s director, has brought together a cast of aspiring actors from across east-central Pennsylvania for the digital production, set to stream early next month. She is currently pursuing a dual Masters degree from Ohio University in Athens.

Thursday was the first day of filming for the production in the gymnasium of the former J.W. Cooper Memorial High School at White and Lloyd Streets in town.

The play centers around a high school girls’ basketball team in the midwestern United States in the 1930s.

Yorke said Miroshnik wrote the play while attending Yale, inspired by her grandfather’s time as a basketball coach.

Yorke played high school basketball for the former Cardinal Brennan High School and for Southern Columbia, and said she was supposed to play at the college level as well.

“I definitely miss it a lot,” Yorke said. “I’ve always wanted to combine things I love, and with theater, you often get opportunities to do that, but with sports, that hasn’t been super common until recently.”

“Being an athlete, I value my time as someone who spent years on a team, and years working with people, and that’s what theater is — you’re on a team,” Yorke said. “What Meg has done with the script is fascinating, because she really does write the script in a way that feels like a basketball game. It progresses like a game and there’s this poetic nature to it that allows it to drive.”

The Tall Girls is Yorke’s second self-production, and, with the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the theater industry, she strived to use the production to make a positive difference.

“I reached out to a handful of actors who have not gotten work in the past year and who I knew who were not working in the summer,” Yorke said. “I value them and their craftsmanship and I wanted to work with them and I wanted to see them work together.”

She gauged interest in the project, and all were enthusiastic.

Yorke also strived to produce The Tall Girls in a way that is accessible for all.

“[Theater] needs to be more accessible as a whole,” Yorke said. “What I really enjoy is being able to do this, rehearse in person, work together in person, and then film it and offer it up to the world. Not just people in Schuylkill County but people everywhere.”

“I think it’s really important to make sure we are considering our entire audience,” Yorke added. “Doing an on-location basketball play that can be seen all across the United States and even further was a no-brainer for me, and to get these people and these artists seen is my goal.”

Her goal in self-producing, she said, is to help the artists involved.

The story, she said, touches on a variety of issues that transcend time — “class, and gender, and the implications we put on young women and the expectations we have of young women.”

“It’s 2021, and I’m watching these scenes play out and they feel like they could be happening right now,” Yorke said.

She said the play focuses on restrictions on girls sports in the 1930s out of fear that such activities would somehow make women unable to bear children or less capable of being housewives.

“I think it’s really important that, as a female director and as someone with a predominantly fem-identifying cast, we really tell these stories and we tell them accurately,” Yorke said.

Yorke said she could relate to the character’s struggles and the tone of the story.

“Some of these storylines are fascinating, because some of them get what they want, and some of them get what they need, and some of them have to compromise because of the society and the patriarchy and the standards inflicted on them,” Yorke said. “As a 31-year-old woman director, I get it. There’s been so much projected onto me and what I should and shouldn’t do as a director and I don’t like to sit back and take that, and I don’t think these characters sit back to take that.”

“That’s what speaks to me the most, is how do we push back against the society that inevitably is going to push us harder than we’ve ever been pushed before,” Yorke added.

Among the actors is 2018 Shenandoah Valley graduate Leanne Rooney, who played Christine Daaé in SV’s award-winning production of Phantom of the Opera, also directed by Yorke. Rooney won Outstanding Lead Actress in the Majestic Awards for that role.

“It’s really fun because all of us want to do this for a living,” Rooney said. “It’s a different sort-of project than we’ve really done before in this area.”

Rooney, who is currently a senior at New York University, said the cast comes from a variety of places, and many have not worked together before.

“Most of us have not done a show with each other ever, and I’ve admired these people for years and we finally get to create something together,” Rooney said. “I think Sarah definitely had that in mind when selecting all of us.”

“We’re having a lot of fun,” Rooney added.

Rooney plays Lurlene in the play.

“Lurlene is described as lazy and boy-crazy, a consistent liar, and her sort-of character arc is interesting because she is afraid of her vulnerability and what has happened to her and her family in the past and that ends up being her strength and realizing that she can do more than just chasing boys,” Rooney said. “She can be a real basketball player if she tries hard enough and she’s good at it.”

The play, Yorke says, is an ensemble performance, with each character’s story arc holding similar weight.

Another local actor in the production is Lauren Tidmore, who is playing Puppy. Tidmore is 2016 Blue Mountain graduate and is now serving as interim executive director of the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts.

Bridget Rooney, SV Drama Club director, is serving as associate producer and stage manager. Recent Shenandoah Valley graduate Jackie Bubnis is an assistant stage manager. Emma Kuczyński, a recent Tamaqua grad, served as basketball liaison.

Tickets are on sale now, and the show will stream August 6-8. Cost per ticket is $12.

Yorke said an in-person streaming event is being planned at the Majestic Theater in Pottsville for closing night, August 8.

Tickets can be purchased online in advance of that event, and attendees can show proof of purchase. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $15.

For more information on the cast, crew, production, or to by tickets, visit www.thetallgirls.org.

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