RIVER VALE—Congratulations to Lauren Kalfus, third-place winner of a 2022 STANJ Governor’s Award, for her comedic monologue as Madison in Pascack Valley Regional High School’s performance of “Night Night, Roger Roger.”
STANJ, or the Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey (stanj.org), works to promote excellence in the study and teaching of communication and theatre arts.
Its Governor’s Award competition is in the areas of monologue, scene, improvisation, musical theatre, stage management, visual and performing arts, character analysis, pantomime, Shakespeare, communication media arts, best play, and musical. There were six finalists in Kalfus’s category.
Kalfus, a senior, has been performing in PVHS Theatre shows since she was a freshman. In 2019 she was nominated for a Montclair State University FOXY Award — Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Play — for her role as Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Her most recent performance was as Sally Brown in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
“Night Night, Roger Roger,” by Roni Ragone, says National New Play Network New Play Exchange, “is a comedic fanciful play about the world after the sun goes down. Roller-skating nanas, kids with tin cans, literary- obsessed vampires, clumsy security guards, kids without tin cans, quirky game show hosts, and more. This play is a plea for every person to stop growing up so fast. Take your moment with the universe and enjoy it.”
It can be performed over Zoom or in person.
Kalfus told Pascack Press on April 12 that PV’s fall 2021 production, mounted at the Joseph Poli Jr. Auditorium, resonated with her. “It really addresses a lot of important themes in childhood and imagination and how we interact as people and how our minds work, and some of the silly things kids do — but also how that represents more important topics.”
She said “Madison is a younger girl, and she’s infatuated with this boy, and she gives a monologue how she tries to get this boy’s attention — and how when they finally started talking she was so enthralled, just a typical teenager.”
She added, “It was really fun to play her because she was super fun and bubbly and I saw a bit of myself in her.”
Kalfus said of her win, “I’m really happy about it and I’m really proud of myself and the work that everybody at PV Theatre has put in because it was a lot of work; I’ve never competed like this before and it was really fun to step outside of something that I’ve done before.”
She said she’ll major in nursing this fall at the University of Rhode Island, and is “definitely planning on joining the dancing club and checking out the shows.”
She said, “If anything, I’m just grateful for the lessons that I’ve learned through theatre because it’s been really helpful with public speaking and overall confidence in front of a crowd — and obviously making a bunch of awesome friends along the way.”
Kalfus gave a shout-out to the PV Theatre staff, among them director/producer Tom Lupfer; director Merielle Lupfer; vocal musical director/orchestra director Michael Mahadeen; choreographer Francesca Silvano; choreographer Kelsey McGrail; sound designer Jonathan Melchiorre; lighting director Curtis Shields; costume designer/costume, prop, hair and makeup supervisor Melissa Gargiulo.
McGrail in particular, she said, “helped ne find a love for dance and was always such a big part of my PV Theatre experience.”
PV Theatre encourages the support of the community to purchase an ad in its playbill or join the family of sponsors by becoming a PVHS Director’s Circle Sponsor. For more information visit pvhstheatre.org.