Ramodna Huff

The Oswego Players is producing a new spin on the classic tale of the Nutcracker written by Oswego County resident Ramonda Huff. Drosselmeyer’s Nutcracker is directed by Amy C. Metz. It is based on the story by ETA Hoffman”The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” and Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Ballet.

The writing of Drosselmeyer’s Nutcracker was Ramonda Huff’s capstone project for her homeschool studies. Ramonda learned about her own writing process while working on this play. Ramonda in her own words explains her writing experience, “I tried to write a little every day, and immediately I fell far behind and I wasn’t writing entertaining scenes. Once I realized how far behind, I was, I took a day off school and wrote four scenes in one sitting. After that, my mom and I decided that the daunting challenge of writing a play was a lot easier for me to get through if we just blocked out a day every few weeks for me to just write all day. Once I figured that out, it was fun! I loved writing the characters, and I loved reading snippets of what I had just written to my friends and family for their input! I couldn’t have done it without their support, especially my mom’s help and support!”

Ramonda has discovered that writing is a great releaser for her. She feels whether it is a creative release or an emotional one, she always has written when she was overwhelmed with feelings. She hopes to write more for the stage, but that is not a long-term goal, more of a side project. She will continue to write for her enjoyment, and she does have plans for a short story , but she is unsure if it will ever be published. However Ramonda does say, “Then again, I never thought one of my plays would be on an actual stage, much less at 15! I suppose anything can happen!”

Ramonda’s favorite line has changed since the play was written to when she saw the first act performed.  Originally, her favorite line was quite late into the play when the nutcracker says to Clara, after having been abducted and had quite garish makeup put on him, “Clara, they tried to attack me with tiny weapons on my face!”. Ramonda’s ultimate favorite line is “ah sugar cookies!”  She says” I honestly didn’t like that line much until I heard the actor who plays the Nucracker, Grant Standish, say it! Now I laugh every time I read or hear the word sugar cookie.”

Ramonda’s favorite character to write was Clara’s brother, Fritz. For her “he was funny to write and familiar to write, as I based my portrayal of him quite a bit on my interactions with my younger brother! In one of the scenes when Clara is talking to him, almost everything he says is direct quotes from conversations with my younger brother”.

Ramonda really enjoyed writing this production, and if she was asked to write a new play, she would most likely say yes! She says that it is “such a different interaction with theater than what I’m used to! I’m used to being an actor on stage, so it’s strange to watch a show I actually wrote come to life. Some day I plan to write a musical, but that’s probably very far down the road for me. So yes! I do plan to write more for the stage!”

Currently, Ramonda is taking computer science classes at Cayuga Community College. Specifically, she wants to do input design for robots in space. Ramonda has been in many shows, her favorites being Annie Jr. (Miss Hannigan), Frozen Jr. (Oaken, Dancer), and Elf (ensemble). She has been in theatre from a very young age and has always enjoyed singing! She is so excited for you to see this show!

The dates of the production are December 2nd, 3rd , 9th and 10th are at 7:30 pm. December 4th and 11th are Sunday matinees both at 2:00 pm Ticket. prices for these performances are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. Tickets are now on sale at the box office. You can make a reservation by calling the box office at 315-343-5138, or you can purchase tickets online at www.oswegoplayers.org.