When the curtain rises for the Sobrato Theater Society’s opening performance of “Ranked” April 17, audiences will find themselves in a dystopian future where a student’s entire worth is determined by a single number displayed for all to see.
The musical follows a group of high school students navigating a society where this academic ranking dictates not only their futures, but also their place in the social order.
“There’s so much talk about data and numbers when it comes to students,” said Christopher deMelo, one of Sobrato’s drama teachers and the production’s director. “I increasingly feel that students are being seen as numbers rather than individuals.”
The show centers on Lily Larsen, a student teetering at the cutoff point that separates those with futures from those without. Students who fall below the average face social ostracism and the effective loss of any path to higher education.
Those who land below this line can compete in a “Rank Redemption” competition for a second chance, where the stakes are immense and the pressure is high.
The cast of nearly 30 students plays characters spread across these rankings, and several say the material hits close to home.
“A lot of things feel a lot more dramatic than they might actually be in high school,” said Cassandra Grisham, a senior who plays Jacquie, the second-ranked student in the school’s hierarchy. “But with a lot of emotions, this feels real to us. These experiences, while they may look exaggerated on stage, reflect the very real internal feelings of students.”
Natalie Ecityan, who plays Sarah, a below-average student who enters the Rank Redemption competition, said the show carries an important message for audiences of all ages.
“Your GPA is not all that matters about you,” she said. “No matter how alone you feel, or how you feel like you’re not smart enough or good enough, you are not alone in that.”
Zao Lazvrovich plays John Carter, a below-average student whose laid-back indifference to the ranking system is upended when he meets Lily Larsen.
“Once he meets Lily, he does a complete 180,” Lazvrovich said. “He starts to think that maybe people above the average aren’t as bad as he and his sister assumed.”
John’s sister Jordan, played by Lillian Piasecki, has given up on the school system and poured everything she has into her music, a pursuit that earns no points in a world that only values academic performance.
“She’s incredibly stubborn, and she’s outcast herself from everyone else,” Piasecki said. “She hasn’t realized that everyone is going through their own struggles.”
That realization, Piasecki said, is something Jordan eventually comes to through her brother.
“I relate to Jordan a lot,” she added. “Certain scenes hit really deep for me.”
The production marks the second time deMelo has staged Ranked. The show was originally performed by the Sobrato Theater Society in 2020 as a fully digital production during the COVID-19 lockdowns, assembled over Zoom with students recording their parts from home. Bringing it to a live stage, deMelo said, has been a long time coming.
“Putting it on stage with live actors is just a completely different experience,” he said. “And looking at what’s happening around us right now, the show’s message—that we are not our rank—really applies. I’m not just a student number, I’m an actor, a writer, a technician, or whatever it is they are.”
The production features an original pop/rock score and makes liberal use of high-tech lighting to reinforce its themes and ground the audience in the near-future sci-fi setting. Academic rankings are projected on stage throughout the show, and several scenes cut to pre-recorded segments styled as live campus news updates.
Olivia Sunderman, who plays Lily Larsen and also serves as the production’s lead lighting technician, said the design of one pivotal Act 2 number, “Peace of Mind,” required building out the lighting rig with additional tower fixtures. She said the result is an immersive effect that helps the audience to feel the way Lily feels in a moment of overwhelming desperation, as if she were physically underwater.
“The deep, dark blue that reflects how much is crowding Lily’s mind,” she said. “Every so often, the towers cut out entirely and it’s just Lily. It strips away the whole ensemble. The effect is really striking.”
DeMelo said he chose to stage “Ranked” not once, but twice, because he believes that the message is important for both students and parents to take home.
“This is probably the first show where I’ve chosen it both for them and for their parents,” deMelo said. “There is a dedication at the beginning of the script that the writer dedicated to their students. It says, ‘To our students: we see you, we hear you.’ And for me, that’s what I hope they take away from it.
“We know how hard it is to be a teenager today. I hope they walk away knowing that someone out there understands.”
For showtimes and to purchase tickets, visit asobratohs.booktix.com/dept/main/e/Ranked.
