Q&A with cast of "The Love Note"

Three Dedham teens have roles in the Nobles Theatre Collective Summer Intensive Program’s production of “The Love Note,” a musical about Jessica, a 10-year-old girl who moves to a new school where she is tricked out of her lunch by cafeteria bullies.

Belle Tuttle, 15, who is going into her sophomore year at Nobles, plays the Lunch Lady. Rising sophomore Shanti Gonzales, 15, portrays the lead bully, Brittany, while Katie Graham, 13, who is entering the eighth grade, plays a British exchange student who is one of four “Bookworms” in the show.

Curry College playwright in residence Gail Phaneuf wrote “The Love Note.” The Nobles production is directed by the school’s Todd Morton and Christine MacInally, artistic director of The Performance Factory in Waltham, who is also the choreographer.

DEDHAM TRANSCRIPT: What’s the vibe of this play?

BELLE TUTTLE: The spring musical was “Bat Boy,” and it was a dark comedy – everyone died. This one is just like, ‘We’re in fourth grade, and we’re having the time of our lives, because we’re 9 years old.’

SHANTI GONZALES: It’s really fun music. All the songs are different fun, poppy genres that make you want to get up and dance. … And the characters are just inflated stereotypes. It’s insane.

DT: Which characters do you relate to?

SG: I relate to Brittany on some level, because Brittany’s the big bully girl. I’m really theatre-y, so I’m loud and stuff, but I’m not a bully, I hope. I can relate to her on some levels, but at the same time she’s just so insane, and she has these little minions that follow her everywhere – I’m not used to that. Sometimes I’ll be practicing my lines and I’ll burst out laughing, because it’s so ridiculous. I relate to her on some levels, because she has to make her own lunch, because her mom’s really busy sometimes, and you can see she’s kind of insecure, maybe a little. I’m making her insecure. So I don’t really relate to my own character. I can relate to Jessica, the person I antagonized. I can relate to her, because I know what it’s like to be the new kid in town, because I moved to Dedham when I was five, so I was new in elementary school. Everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, who’s that new girl?’ I can relate to the person I’m antagonizing, so the inspiration I take for Brittany is from the people who kind of antagonized me.

DT: In your experiences in school, do you gravitate to one of these characters more than the others?

BT: I’m kind of an introvert – I guess maybe Jessica because of that. She’s pretty quiet. And the Lunch Lady, too. I’m the only adult (character) in the show, so it’s kind of cool, because I don’t have to act like I’m 10. I can try and be mature. But also the Lunch Lady’s very insecure, and she’s not entirely likable at all times. She’s not unlikable, but I think the insecurity is kind of an issue, and I don’t really struggle with that myself, so I don’t know.

KATIE GRAHAM: I’m not really sure who I relate to. I’m not quiet, so I don’t even like the Bookworms, really. But I’m not like Brittany, either. But I guess I relate to the Bookworms a little bit, because sometimes I feel shy. I used to be extremely shy, so I guess I kind of came out of my shell, like it says in the (Bookworms) song. It starts out being like, we’re extremely shy, but towards the end we want to come out, because we hate Brittany. (To Gonzales) Sorry.

SG: It’s totally good.

KG: And we just want to tell her how we feel.

DT: How much of a problem do you think bullying is in schools these days? Do you think we in the media are over hyping that situation?

SG: I feel like I never see it that much.

BT: But, again, Nobles isn’t exactly (your typical school). We’re all kind of sheltered, I think. But it’s important that the media’s focusing on it, and even if they are overdoing it, that’s a good thing. Because for some people it is a huge issue, and it can ruin your experience in school, if you’re one of those people who really is affected by (bullying).

SG: I hear about it a lot more now than I was when I was little. After Phoebe Prince, after that happened, it became a big issue. It’s good that it’s getting played up, but I think maybe the media needs to slant it a different way, though. Because soon kids are getting (an) ‘Oh my God, it’s just the broken record’ thing going on. It’s a really good thing to do, play that up, but to get kids to listen, you need to play it up different ways.

DT: Your last show was “Bat Boy.” In comparison, could “The Love Note” be any more different?

BT: Probably not. “Bat Boy” was a huge cast; this is a small cast. “Bat Boy” was really dark and not at all bubbly. It was really serious. And obviously this (program) is also accelerated – we do this in two weeks, all day, so as the name suggests, it’s intensive. And Bat Boy’s over the course of an entire season, so yeah, it’s different.

Dedham Transcript staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.