Pali Drama Teacher Debuts with ‘Fools’

When Victoria Francis retired as the Palisades High School drama teacher last spring, she made sure the well-regarded program she had developed for 27 years was in good hands. She hand-picked as her successor Monica Iannessa to continue the beloved program. Iannessa has been leading the school’s drama program this school year to both a first-place victory in the fall drama festival and to the debut tonight of ‘Fools,’ a Neil Simon comedy that will be the drama students’ first performance under her direction. ”Iannessa most recently started and developed the drama program at Chaparral High School in Temecula, where she was honored with the Temecula Valley High School District’s Teacher of the Year in 2003. Prior to that, she taught at Escondido High School and Saint John Bosco High School in her 16-year career. ”Francis and Iannessa worked together through the Drama Teachers Association of Southern California, where they both were involved in the Fall Festival and Spring Shakespeare Festival. Iannessa also brought her Chaparral students on Francis’ Broadway Melody Tours of New York. ”’I was honored for her to consider me,’ Iannessa says of Francis. ‘She’d been here for 27 years; it was like handing over a child.’ ”But when Francis first asked her two years ago, Iannessa was hesitant, having just bought a house in Temecula and running a program she had started with a state-of-the-art 300-seat theater. ”Last year, Francis approached her again. At that time, Iannessa decided to make the move to Pali, sold her house and bought a condo in West Hollywood, and is thrilled to be in L.A. at a high-performing high school. ”Drama has been a lifelong passion for Iannessa, ever since she played a wind-up doll in her kindergarten pageant, and continuing all through her school years in Cerritos. She was a theater major at Cal State Long Beach. ”Iannessa was a member of the improv troupe the Cadre, and has done radio voiceovers, but her primary career since college has been teaching. ”Although she’d like to get back to community theater someday, she is devoted full-time to the Palisades High School theater department, where her day stretches from 6:45 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. ‘It never drags on, it’s never the same day,’ says Iannessa, who is passionate about teaching drama. ‘You get to know the students really well over all four years. You’re a combination of educator, camp counselor and mentor.’ ”Sixty students in her A.M. theater program meet at 7 a.m. daily for a class in improvisation and comedy sports. Later in the day, she teaches three ninth grade drama classes, part of a cross-curricular program with English and social studies. She also teaches a junior drama class and the play production class, where students work on sets, publicity, costumes and acting. There are 130 students in the Thespian Club. ”After school, it’s time to rehearse ‘Fools,’ which opens tonight. ‘It’s about a schoolteacher in a remote village in Russia, who is hired to tutor the doctor’s daughter in a town that is cursed with stupidity,’ she says. ‘He vows to break the curse by educating the daughter. ”’There’s a little bit of social commentary in it that I enjoy,’ Iannessa says. Her favorite play to stage is the 1930’s comedy ‘You Can’t Take It with You’ by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. ”The comedies are a change of pace, since Francis focused on dramas over the last several years. Iannessa hopes to give equal importance to all three productions’the fall play, winter one-acts and spring musical. Her goal is to have more people in the community attend the fall show. She has created a new look in the staging by extending the stage out into the audience, and having the cast members at times use the aisles. She also rearranged the audience seating to make it a more intimate setting with 200 seats and increased the run to two weeks. ‘It’s more fun to do it several nights.’ ”As for long-term goals, Iannessa would like to make some changes in the performance venue or, ideally, a brand-new theater. ‘I would like it to reflect the community, which supports theater and has a lot of people in the business.’ ”Her philosophy of teaching is to create an ensemble. ‘Everybody is working together, acting together. Nobody’s treated as a star’every part is important, everyone has something to contribute, and they rely on one another to perform.’ ”She likes to take time for the students to reflect on each performance: ‘What we’ve done, what we can do to get better next time.’ ”Iannessa also believes that theater teaches life skills. ‘You learn how to handle disappointment, accept responsibility, overcome conflict, solve problems, organize your time’these all come into play in real life.’ ”’I am thankful to Victoria Francis,’ says Iannessa. ‘I feel grateful to her that she felt confident to hand her excellent program over to me. I respect her and I want her to know she left it in good hands.’ ”’Fools’ premieres tonight at Mercer Hall at 7:30 and continues Friday and Saturday, and next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $8.