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High School Play Details Winona Ryder Saga

Aired May 28, 2003 - 11:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Under the heading of what will they think of next, art is imitating life yet again, or at least poking fun at it. A California high school is putting on a play called "Sticky Fingers," a tale of Saks, lies, and videotapes. The stage farce, as you might have figured out by now, takes a jab at the shopping adventures of actress Winona Ryder. Emily Greer plays Winona. Larry Zeiger is her drama teacher and the instigator of this whole project, and he also has a king-sized role in the play. We'll get to that in just a second. They're joining us from San Diego this morning -- good morning.
LARRY ZEIGER, HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER: Good morning.

EMILY GREER, HIGH SCHOOL ACTOR: Good morning.

KAGAN: You guys, a bunch of troublemakers, aren't you here?

ZEIGER: Well, not really. We want to entertain the masses.

GREER: No.

KAGAN: Larry, this obviously is not your average high school drama production, and there is a history at Point Loma High School of putting on these type of plays. So first, explain to our viewers exactly what you're trying to put together here.

ZEIGER: Actually, this started out 27 years ago as an English class for advanced students, and it was a program where I wanted to empower students as leaders in the arts, as actors, directors, costumers, choreographers and writers and directors, and we would develop stories and integrate popular songs and songs from theatrical work, and occasionally, students would write songs to advance the plot and to develop a musical. So we've been doing this for 27 years.

KAGAN: And, Emily, this year is obviously centering around Winona Ryder's problems. You play Winona Ryder. We were seeing some video of you there in action. Tell us about playing Winona, and what exactly you do in the play.

GREER: Well, I play Winona Ryder, and I basically -- I claim that I'm innocent and -- well, if you see the play, then you'll know who really did it, and basically it's the story of my scandal, and we basically put on a musical and do a whole bunch of dancing numbers in between each of it -- each song. Everything has a point, and it all goes, and it comes together, and it is a unique plot, and...

KAGAN: Unique, yes. I would say that. I think that's an understatement. Larry, so you're actually kind of part of the production too. You're playing piano?

ZEIGER: I play piano. I actually wrote one of the songs for the show.

KAGAN: Tell us about some of the songs in the production.

ZEIGER: Well, one of them, my favorite song in the production was written by a student called -- his name is Marvin Heinz (ph), and it is a rap which sort of details what happened to Winona Ryder, as well as what happened to the fictional character that we created, whose name is Winnebago Driver (ph), who is played by another actress, who wants, desperately, to be just like Winona Ryder.

KAGAN: On a slightly more serious note here, Larry, what you are trying to do is get a lot of kids involved in the arts and drama who otherwise wouldn't find their way to this part of the high school?

ZEIGER: That's right. There are approximately 70 to 80 students involved in the production, and the majority of them have never been on stage before, so it's really an exciting event to teach them how to sing, dance, choreograph, and empower them as leaders in the arts.

And I think in today's day and age, where so many arts programs are being cut from schools, it's really important that we have these programs, and it's amazing because the students basically just take over the entire class, and they are leaders, and I think it's really exciting to send them out of high school with a passion for the arts, and an understanding of leadership.

KAGAN: Sounds like that. And just quickly, Larry and Emily, have either one of you heard from Winona Ryder? Is she going to come see the play?

GREER: I haven't heard from her.

ZEIGER: Well, actually, we sent letters to many people. We do sort of a send up of popular culture in the production and world events, because the story starts out in North Korea and moves its way to -- from a missile factory in North Korea to Hollywood, California, and we have had -- we sent letters to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who one -- another actor plays, and Winona Ryder, and we did receive a response from Arnold Schwarzenegger's publicist. We understand that Winona Ryder has -- is not aware of the announcement we sent her, but we're still hoping. We have three more days to go in the production, and we're hoping that she shows up to one of them. We have a big sign up on our theater now that says, "Point Loma welcomes Winona Ryder," just in case she does show.

KAGAN: You hear that, Winona? If you're watching, they have a ticket waiting for you at Point Loma High School in Southern California.

ZEIGER: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Larry Zeiger, thank you so much, and Emily Greer, congratulations on being the lead. Appreciate it. Thanks for sharing your unique high school play.

ZEIGER: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 28, 2003 - 11:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Under the heading of what will they think of next, art is imitating life yet again, or at least poking fun at it. A California high school is putting on a play called "Sticky Fingers," a tale of Saks, lies, and videotapes. The stage farce, as you might have figured out by now, takes a jab at the shopping adventures of actress Winona Ryder. Emily Greer plays Winona. Larry Zeiger is her drama teacher and the instigator of this whole project, and he also has a king-sized role in the play. We'll get to that in just a second. They're joining us from San Diego this morning -- good morning.
LARRY ZEIGER, HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER: Good morning.

EMILY GREER, HIGH SCHOOL ACTOR: Good morning.

KAGAN: You guys, a bunch of troublemakers, aren't you here?

ZEIGER: Well, not really. We want to entertain the masses.

GREER: No.

KAGAN: Larry, this obviously is not your average high school drama production, and there is a history at Point Loma High School of putting on these type of plays. So first, explain to our viewers exactly what you're trying to put together here.

ZEIGER: Actually, this started out 27 years ago as an English class for advanced students, and it was a program where I wanted to empower students as leaders in the arts, as actors, directors, costumers, choreographers and writers and directors, and we would develop stories and integrate popular songs and songs from theatrical work, and occasionally, students would write songs to advance the plot and to develop a musical. So we've been doing this for 27 years.

KAGAN: And, Emily, this year is obviously centering around Winona Ryder's problems. You play Winona Ryder. We were seeing some video of you there in action. Tell us about playing Winona, and what exactly you do in the play.

GREER: Well, I play Winona Ryder, and I basically -- I claim that I'm innocent and -- well, if you see the play, then you'll know who really did it, and basically it's the story of my scandal, and we basically put on a musical and do a whole bunch of dancing numbers in between each of it -- each song. Everything has a point, and it all goes, and it comes together, and it is a unique plot, and...

KAGAN: Unique, yes. I would say that. I think that's an understatement. Larry, so you're actually kind of part of the production too. You're playing piano?

ZEIGER: I play piano. I actually wrote one of the songs for the show.

KAGAN: Tell us about some of the songs in the production.

ZEIGER: Well, one of them, my favorite song in the production was written by a student called -- his name is Marvin Heinz (ph), and it is a rap which sort of details what happened to Winona Ryder, as well as what happened to the fictional character that we created, whose name is Winnebago Driver (ph), who is played by another actress, who wants, desperately, to be just like Winona Ryder.

KAGAN: On a slightly more serious note here, Larry, what you are trying to do is get a lot of kids involved in the arts and drama who otherwise wouldn't find their way to this part of the high school?

ZEIGER: That's right. There are approximately 70 to 80 students involved in the production, and the majority of them have never been on stage before, so it's really an exciting event to teach them how to sing, dance, choreograph, and empower them as leaders in the arts.

And I think in today's day and age, where so many arts programs are being cut from schools, it's really important that we have these programs, and it's amazing because the students basically just take over the entire class, and they are leaders, and I think it's really exciting to send them out of high school with a passion for the arts, and an understanding of leadership.

KAGAN: Sounds like that. And just quickly, Larry and Emily, have either one of you heard from Winona Ryder? Is she going to come see the play?

GREER: I haven't heard from her.

ZEIGER: Well, actually, we sent letters to many people. We do sort of a send up of popular culture in the production and world events, because the story starts out in North Korea and moves its way to -- from a missile factory in North Korea to Hollywood, California, and we have had -- we sent letters to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who one -- another actor plays, and Winona Ryder, and we did receive a response from Arnold Schwarzenegger's publicist. We understand that Winona Ryder has -- is not aware of the announcement we sent her, but we're still hoping. We have three more days to go in the production, and we're hoping that she shows up to one of them. We have a big sign up on our theater now that says, "Point Loma welcomes Winona Ryder," just in case she does show.

KAGAN: You hear that, Winona? If you're watching, they have a ticket waiting for you at Point Loma High School in Southern California.

ZEIGER: Absolutely.

KAGAN: Larry Zeiger, thank you so much, and Emily Greer, congratulations on being the lead. Appreciate it. Thanks for sharing your unique high school play.

ZEIGER: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com