Arts & Entertainment

Big dreams

Memoir tells of Pa. high school theater program that set the bar high

Published

13 years ago

October 17, 2013

Terri Schlichenmeyer

books, Drama High, gay news, Washington Blade, Michael Sokolove

Book cover to ‘Drama High.’ (Image courtesy Riverhead Books)

‘Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theatre’
By Michael Sokolove
Riverhead Books
$27.95
352 pages

Sometimes, you just don’t feel like yourself.

Lately, for instance, you’ve been acting differently and people have noticed. You wear outfits you wouldn’t normally wear and you say the oddest things. It’s almost like you’re possessed by another person.

Such is the life of an actor in a play: to do it right, to convince an audience, you have to become someone you’re not. You know the pressure can be enormous, so read “Drama High” by Michael Sokolove, then imagine performing with New York theater executives in the audience.

Like most schools, Harry S. Truman High School in Levittown, Pa., had its budget slashed last year. Gone are extravagances, extracurriculars and extraneous activities. But teacher Lou Volpe’s theater classes survived the cuts, just like they had for some 40 years.

Volpe hadn’t intended on becoming Truman High’s drama teacher; in fact, before he was hired, he’d had zero experience with theater. But, as he did many other times (and like many other teachers), he threw himself into making Truman’s students into a first-class troupe.

Michael Sokolove, one of Volpe’s students back in the 1970s, remembered the way Volpe had of finding one special, latent talent that each of his students had and highlighting it. Volpe urged his students, stood up for them, supported them and expanded their horizons, making them want more from life. Sokolove remembered spaghetti suppers at Volpe’s house and never wanting to disappoint his teacher.

But he also remembered the town in which Truman High sat. Once a subdivision of the future, Levittown was the kind of place people moved away from and hard times only made it worse.

Still, Volpe and his drama students made their school proud through first-class, competition-winning, Broadway-quality plays — but not of the “Arsenic and Old Lace” ilk. No, Volpe liked to push his students to the edge of their comfort zones, asking them to sing and act in ways they didn’t think they could, making them become people they didn’t think they’d ever be, both personally and on stage.

And in doing so, Volpe changed their lives.

Like any good actor, “Drama High” plays several roles.

For adults, it’s definitely a book of nostalgia. Like many people, author Michael Sokolove moved away from Levittown and his trip back is filled with wistfulness and eagerness to see how time alters old memories.

For students — especially those struggling or who harbor a secret love of theater — and for their parents, Volpe’s story offers strength and an urge to commit to ones’ heart. His students spurned sports in favor of stage and in turn, he supported their dreams and nurtured their talents. Some of his former students, in fact, have become Emmy winners, entertainment executives and Broadway actors.

Despite that it occasionally shows a tone of despair, it’s hard not to cheer when you’ve got this story in your hands.

Related Topics:Drama High Michael Sokolove Riverhead Books

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

18 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.

According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.

The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.

According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.

The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.

According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”

According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.

Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.

At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.

Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.