Nutley Parks and Recreation Winter Production: Matilda

The Nutley Department of Parks and Recreation has been having town productions for the past 20 years. Whether it is a Christmas show or a remake of a movie, the Nutley town plays are always a hit! The actors and actresses, backstage crew, stage manager, and all the other help, all work hours on end to try to make the productions the best they possibly could be. They will spend hours learning lines at home or hours together trying to rehearse. 

The town play, Matilda was last weekend. Matilda is a very popular movie about a little girl who develops extraordinary mental abilities. However, she has to deal with neglectful parents and an awful headmistress making life much more difficult. 

Tickets went on sale starting November 8th, giving everyone plenty of time to buy tickets. Mayor Mauro G. Tucci announced on the Nutley Township website, “Performances were held at Nutley High School, 300 Franklin Avenue, on December 16 at 7:30 pm, December 17 at 7:30 pm, December 18 at 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm, and December 19 at 2:00 pm. Tickets were $10 for students and seniors, $12 for adults, and children five and under were free.” 

There were some adults from town involved in the play, but the cast and crew were mainly made up of kids from as young as third grade up to twelfth. There were 75 students involved in this play. 

Frank Demaio is the Superintendent at the Parks and Recreation. “We rehearsed mainly at the Middle School, some practices were at the Parks and Rec,” Demaio says. “One week leading up to the day of the play was at the High School for tech week.” A lot of long rehearsals and so much time went into this play from all the students. They had rehearsed since September.

Fabian Hattem played Scary Big Kid and Man Two. His favorite part of being a part of the town plays is being able to play a character or multiple characters. Hattem has been singing since he was a little kid. He loves music and when he got to middle school he was introduced to the drama club. From there on out he continued theater and doing almost all of the town plays, “I would say I have been in five or six shows with the town Parks and Rec.” Hattem says, “This show specifically is a lot of energy and fun that anyone can enjoy.” 

The Matilda productions went great, all the actors, actresses, backstage help, directors, all worked really hard together to make this show great. “It’s nerve-racking because you want everything to run smoothly,” Hattem says. Since they all feel those nerves, they all supported each other through the entire show and everything went perfectly.