The Away Boys: senior Toby Rodriguez and junior Fritz Sullivan take on roles in St. Teresa’s Academy’s school musical

Macy Cherra, a senior at St. Teresa’s Academy, waits with her classmates in the STA theater after school everyday for the “here” text from East senior Toby Rodriguez and junior Fritz Sullivan before rehearsal for the STA musical “Freaky Friday”. The girls run to unlock the door to let the boys in, never quite getting used to real-life boys being in the all-girls school.

STA holds auditions for “away boys” from other schools to play the male roles in their musicals. For this year’s musical opening on Nov 3., they had to cast a total of four boys, with the main two male roles being held by Sullivan and Rodriguez. The musical is double cast — meaning that Sulivan and Rodriguez will perform for two nights and spend the other two in the ensemble while Rockhurst High School junior boys Ian Spachman and David Severns take the lead roles.

“I’ve known Fritz and Toby forever, but I never expected them to actually be in STA, so it’s been really cool to show them around my classes,” Cherra said. 

Rodriguez first found out about the need for boys in the all-girls shows when his mom sent him the link to the audition schedule for Notre Dame de Sion’s musical. From there, he joined the STA production of “Once Upon a Matress” his sophomore year, the virtual production of “These Shining Lives” his junior year and this year’s rendition of “Freaky Friday.”

“I’ve enjoyed being a part of shows in schools that you wouldn’t otherwise ever go to,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a new environment and new directors that really get me out of my comfort zone.” 

Shana Prentiss has been the theater director at STA for 21 years. It’s always been her goal to get as many of her own girls on stage as she can, but when the production calls for it, she’s always happy to bring on away boys, from East, Rockhurst or sometimes even as far as Lawrence High School. 

“The girls are always excited to bring boys into the show,” Prentiss said. “It changes the entire dynamic and chemistry of a performance.” 

This year when Rodriguez auditioned for the musical, he brought Sullivan along with him. Sullivan has performed as the lead in two East musicals “Crazy For You” and “Godspell” as well as with Stage Right Performing Arts. But this was his first experience at another school.

“I had never met Fritz before his audition, but it was clear from the start that this was a person who knew exactly what he was doing,” Prentiss said. 

Sullivan had an easy time bonding with the cast over things like their coffee addictions and already had a connection with some of them, like Cherra who he’s been dating for three years. In the past, Sullivan and Cherra have played beside one another in roles such as Liesl and Ralph in “The Sound of Music.” This year they’re doing it again with Cherra playing Ellie, the daughter, and Sullivan playing Adam, Ellie’s love interest. 

“I’ve really enjoyed [the musical] so far, it’s different because East is a school theater, but since we don’t go to STA it’s like community theater,” Sullivan said. “It’s like we shift modes everytime we shift schools.” 

Both Rodriguez and Sullivan were a part of the East Musical Revue this year, which cut into the rehearsals for “Freaky Friday.” While they’re devoted to the STA musical, East’s production takes priority for them. 

The two made it more of a point to attend those rehearsals, which meant more homework to catch up with the STA pace. If they can’t go to a rehearsal that day, Rodriguez and Sullivan go over their lines and vocal exercises that night. 

“I trust Toby to learn what he needs to do, if he misses [rehearsal] he will make it up,” Prentiss said. “Fritz came in a few days ago, and this was the first time I’d seen him in like a week, he already had stuff memorized, and had clearly done his homework.” 

With the Musical Revue closed, and the boys can dedicate full priority to “Freaky Friday,” with just a month until opening night. Balancing Musical Revue, “Freaky Friday” and school work on top of that can lead to late nights.

“It’s definitely cost me a few grades in the past, but nothing that can’t be fixed,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll always pick getting a few bad grades over missing [one of the musicals].”