By Ryan Downs
News Editor
A geek, a jock, a criminal, a princess, an athlete and a basket case- these are the characters that make up John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club, which will be coming to CSUSM as a stage play in October.
Every semester, one of CSUSM’s graduating theater or VPA students gets the opportunity to showcase their work to the school with a capstone project. For theater students, this involves adapting a play to stage (or, if they’re bold enough, writing their own) to perform in front of the school. This October, Alex Contreras will instead be adapting one of his favorite movies to the stage for three nights only.
“I went with this story because I feel that it is more than a 80s movie” Contreras said. “The movie really is timeless, and it really resonates with high school students. Even now, almost 30 years after it came out, the movie is still relevant.”
It is not difficult to see the effectiveness of the transition from film to stage. Most of the film takes place in a single classroom, with a principal cast of about six characters.
“What lends Breakfast Club well to theater is that the story is set in a single location, which makes it ideal to stage great characters that everyone can relate to in some way,” Contreras said.
He even goes so far as to say the entire screenplay is left more or less unchanged in the transition.
“I did not want to ruin what John Hughes, the author, wrote. All I wanted to do was tweak it in a few places to make it flow better as a play,” Contreras said.
He said that the only necessary changes are added dialogue, referencing important events that take place outside of the classroom setting in the film.
“The set for our production will be more done with the idea that less is more… The play is much more about the kids and their relationship to each other than it is about the library they are in,” said Contreras. “Another change is that me and my director are trying to emphasize the fact that the play is timeless…. Will there be references to the 80s? Sure, but there may also be references to the 50s, the 90s and the early 2000s”.
Although his passion for the project shines through, Contreras had his share of difficulties in making his dream a reality. He recounts his surprise when very few people showed up to audition, initially causing him to reach out to friends he knew in the acting profession. However with perseverance, he finally managed to assemble the cast he needed.
“The moment the audience sees them onstage,” Contreras said. “They’ll know who each person is playing.”
Picking a favorite character was a slight challenge for Contreras, but not impossible.
“A lot of the things Andrew does and says, I can relate to, but I’d have to say Brian,” he said. “He’s a smart, goal-oriented kid, but at the same time he has this charm to him. You want to like Brian because in everything he does, he’s earnest about it.”
The Breakfast Club adapted to the stage from John Hughes’ screenplay by Alex Contreras and directed by Justin Levine runs at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3 to 5 in Arts 101. Admission is free.