Windermere High takes “The Outsiders” to stage

Windermere High thespians have been gearing up to perform the school’s first play.

“‘The Outsiders’ is a play based on S.E. Hinton’s novel, which a lot of the kids actually read during middle school,” said theater teacher Jonathan Jackson. “It’s our first (non-musical) play — no singing or dancing.”

The story of “The Outsiders” is a classic, coming-of-age tale of Ponyboy Curtis and his gang of friends, who refer to themselves as Greasers. The play follows a conflict between the Greasers and the well-to-do Socs (pronounced, “soashes”). 

“It’s basically a clash or coming together of two communities — the Socs and the Greasers,” Jackson said. “The Socs are sort of very privileged, well-to-do, wealthy people, and the Greasers are more down on their luck. It’s told through the lens of young people, so it feels authentic to young people when they’re reading the book and when you see it on stage because it’s their story they’re experiencing.

“We were trying to find something that would involve a lot of people on stage but also would be something that people would be familiar with so people would want to come and see the show and get excited about it,” Jackson said of “The Outsiders.” “We thought ‘The Outsiders’ would be a good option to do both of those things.”

Sophomore Logan Clinger, 16, will be playing the role of Ponyboy Curtis.

“I think it’s very relatable role for myself,” Clinger said. “I’m not exactly the most threatening person. … I use my words, not actions, and it correlates with what he does.”

When Clinger first heard “The Outsiders” would be one of the productions this year, he read the first half of the book. After he got the role of Ponyboy, he finished reading it. He also watched the movie to get more of an idea of the character’s mannerisms. 

One of the most challenging scenes for Clinger to portray was the scene where Ponyboy almost drowns, he said.

“It kind of gave me ideas of what (Ponyboy’s) mindset is to how he would act and how he would react to specific scenarios,” Clinger said of the book. “I get drowned in one part, and that’s very interesting. It’s odd trying to get drowned on stage in a safe manner. We figured it out, obviously, but at first we all had to contemplate on how exactly this was going to work.”

Sophomore Miguel Gil, 16, is cast for the role of Ponyboy’s best friend, Johnny. Gil said he never read the book but did watch the movie a few times to prepare for the role.

“I wanted to be Johnny, because (he’s) just such an emotionally involved character,” Gil said. “It’s just so fun being able to tell such a cool and awesome story and playing it from (Johnny’s) point of view.”

Gil and Clinger both said one of their favorite scenes of the play is the scene in which Johnny and Ponyboy are hiding in a church, because the scene portrays the strong friendship between the two characters.

“I love that scene,” Gil said. “It’s just an intimate moment. ... (Johnny) gets introduced to new things and (the characters) open up to each other.” 

“The Greasers have friendships, internally, but I think Ponyboy and Johnny (have) the (closest) friendship,” Clinger said.