The Tupper Lake Red and Black Players will host a double bill of “The Fourth Wall” from the high schoolers and “All Shook Up” from the middle schoolers Friday and Saturday nights.

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“The Fourth Wall”

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The cast of Tupper Lake Middle School’s production of “All Shook Up” is seen before a rehearsal Wednesday, Nov. 6. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

“The Fourth Wall” is a short, comedic play with some absurdist elements. The fourth wall refers to that invisible wall between a performance or a movie and the audience. When a character speaks directly to the audience, that’s known as breaking the fourth wall – think Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street” or Mike Myers in “Wayne’s World.” In the play, three teens sneak into a theater, literally break the fourth wall with a hammer and enter another play. A lot of the characters and scenes play off theater tropes such as two of the characters being named “Leading Man” and “Leading Woman.”

For last year’s high school fall play, the students performed George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” School play director George Cordes said he wanted to go with something more light-hearted than communist allegories for this year. It’s also a one-act play, which he said is quicker and works well with the students’ busy school, sports and work schedules. Cordes said he also like the idea of the students playing modern-day teenagers, roles closely resembling their own lives.

Senior Jayce Clement plays Jason, a slightly bumbling and worrisome character. Clement took to the stage for the first time last year in the school’s production of “Footloose.”

“When I heard this was a comedy, I knew I wanted to be in it,” he said.

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Tupper Lake Middle School students Cody Auclair, left, and Garrett Dewyea rehearse on Wednesday, Nov. 6 for the school’s production of “All Shook Up.” (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

“All Shook Up”

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After “The Fourth Wall,” the middle school students will perform “All Shook Up,” a jukebox musical based on the songs of Elvis Presley. It’s also partly inspired by a few Shakespeare comedies such as “Much Ado About Nothing,” “As You Like It” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The musical follows Chad, the Elvis-like bad boy who rides motorcycles, plays rock ‘n’ roll and spark some rebellion in a town that has outlawed “Loud music, public necking and tight pants.”

“The thing that I was looking for with this is a show that would bring in kids who may or may not be aware of Elvis Presley’s music,” said Liz Cordes, school musical director. “It always warms my heart when I have students who say ‘I love classic rock,’ or ‘I really like ’60s music.’ There’s a lot to like about that music, but I also look for shows with plenty of leads and will give people some nice feature roles.”

“The kids get to do a lot of fun dances, and we’ve gotten pretty good as some Elvis Presley moves, if I might say,” she added.

Seventh grader Ayden Rabideau plays Towns Person No. 1.

“I sing, I dance and I say one line,” he said. “I heard this show had Elvis, and I wanted to do it, because I love Elvis. My whole life I’ve been a fan.”

Outside of Elvis, Rabideau said he enjoys YouTube rappers such as Logan and Jake Paul.

Rabideau is also blind and requires a cane and an assistant at school.

“It’s kind of hard (acting with my condition),” he said. “I just got to have some instructions on where I go and where to dance.”

Behind the scenes, Honna Madore works on stage crew. She used to do sound work during the L.P. Quinn Elementary Coffee House music events. When she got into middle school, Madore wanted to continue her technical work and joined the theater.

“I really like being a helper, not really on stage. It’s just not my thing to be on stage,” she said.

In the live music industry, when a roadie has done their job right, the audience won’t be aware they’ve done anything. Madore said that takes a lot of speed and work.

“When you’re on scene and you’re trying to move tables and chairs in a couple of seconds, it’s very hard to make it look like there’s not a giant cut of black curtains,” she said.

Reagan Fritts plays Natalie, a female mechanic who falls in love with Chad. To get closer to her crush, Natalie adopts the male persona of Ed. Fritts said she appreciates the upbeat nature of the musical.

Fritts said she like some Elvis and ’50s music but mainly listens to ’80s hits and the pop-rock band Panic! at the Disco.

“I’ve always loved singing and acting,” she said. Ever since I was little I would sing in front of my TV. My mom and dad have always encouraged me. Theater feels like home.”