Photo: Jay Willett/WBZ NewsRadio
SEEKONK, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Seekonk High School theater program put on a play written and directed entirely by a 17-year-old.
Junior Juliana Centracchio is the first to both author and direct a play for her high school with a production of South of 14th Street.
“I wrote the first draft, took about two months, then I scrapped it, then I wrote the second draft in like a week and a half because I had to get it into my director,” Centracchio said.
While she was advised by teacher Jackie Glum and adjunct theater professor Rhode Island College Renee Cisgay, the rest of the work was done by Centracchio.
“She has directed every single inch of this show,” Glum said. “I mean, you only see originals on Broadway, right? It’s not something you see so often, especially in high school.”
The play surrounds the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Manhattan that lead to the death of 146 people.
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A major aspect of the show is the labor protests of the women who worked at the factory, fighting for better treatment.
“Thinking about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, it was about women working in these unsafe conditions, forced to work for 12 hours a day get little pay and it was a serious issue, and I was like ‘That would be cool to write a play about,’” she said. “The majority of the play takes place at the strike that happened two years before the fire, so it’s about a group of young women fighting for the change they want to see.”
Along with her high school classes, Centracchio took some pre-college theater courses at Brown and Columbia, which she said taught her everything she needed for writing South of 14th Street.
“I learned everything about creating original theater, playwriting, acting, directing,” she said.
She has a ton of support behind her, from the West Warwick Fire Department where her father works to the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.
Opening night was Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., with the remaining performances scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, October 19 at 2 p.m.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Jay Willett (@JayWillettWBZ) reports.