Kiran Parekh is clearly a unique/talented individual with not only a creative flair but an obvious love of life and the ability and “coolness” to make people smile.
Here are two examples.
When asked what his grade-point average was, the Pioneer junior put a 4.00 followed by a “cool/smiling” emoji. And when asked about his short-term goals Parekh said (and we quote) “My most immediate plan for the future is to eat some of the bananas I got last weekend before they get too spotty.”
So, yeah, let’s start with a “cool/smiling” emoji next to the name Kiran Parekh.
Parekh is one of the costumes crewheads for The Pioneer Theatre Guild’s upcoming production of The Addams Family School Edition, which runs Nov. 9-12, at Pioneer HS.
“I am co-crewhead of costumes, alongside the amazing Audrey Rosenberg,” says Parekh, who has been involved in PTG since his freshman year. “I’m currently most excited to see how the actors look and perform in the costumes that the crew has worked hard to put together. All the ancestors are really neat, they’re all from different time periods, so that’s sort of fun to get to move around in time as opposed to having them all in one time period.”
Being a member of the crew is challenging and rewarding at the same time.
“In the lead up to the play we do everything necessary to assemble the outfits the actors wear,” says Parekh. “This includes measuring the actors, picking out preexisting clothing items from our costume room, doing fittings on the actors to make sure that everything fits as close to perfect as possible, and of course actually sewing and creating the costumes.”
“Costumes” refers to pretty much anything the actors wear, from their shoes, to their hats, to their jewelry.
“During the show itself we give the actors their costumes and make sure they don’t lose any of the necessary parts,” Parekh says. “If there’s a wardrobe malfunction or last minute adjustment that has to be made, we’re on deck to help out. Additionally, we help the actors with any quick costume changes they have, making sure they look shipshape whenever they’re on stage and that they never risk missing an entrance because of a stuck zipper.”
Parekh’s journey to theater started when he was in the third grade.
“My classmates spontaneously decided they were going to put on a show about Pontiac’s Rebellion for our teacher,” he remembers. “The play was rehearsed once during recess and completely written and acted by us. It was here that I had my first and only starring role. I was the narrator, a role that included such powerful and emotional lines as “One week later…” and “But little did he know…”
Not wanting to continue to show everyone up (his words), Parekh decided that acting wasn’t for him, but the interest in theater remained and joined theater in middle school as a set crew member with Tappan Players.
“I started doing costumes in spring of my freshman year, and I’ve stuck with it ever since,” Parekh says. “With PTG I’ve been a part of Les Miserables, Into the Woods, You On the Moors Now, Oklahoma!, and the Student Productions shows.”
Kiran, 16, also plays euphonium in marching and concert band and trombone in jazz band and is a member of Pioneer Encore Club and GIDAS. And Parekh clearly is enjoying working, learning and playing with PTG.
“I love getting to know all the people on my crew, as well as those on other crews and cast,” Parekh says. “They’re all such wonderful people, and their presence makes my time spent in PTG that much better. I’ve formed so many great friendships through PTG, and met so many awesome people.”
So what can the audience expect when they come to see Addams Family?
“They can expect super awesome costumes, super awesome sets, super awesome props, super awesome makeup, super awesome lights, super awesome sound, and super awesome painting,” Parekh says. “They can also probably expect some pretty decent acting and singing and stuff too (if they’re into that kind of thing).”
Insert cool/smiling emoji – with sunglasses, of course.
Pioneer Theatre Guild presents ‘The Adams Family – School Edition’ Nov. 9-12
