The crowd settles into the packed theater, the lights dim, and the piano from the song plays its last note; the projector turns on, and familiar faces begin to flash across the screen.
ELHS students and alumni directed, shot, and starred in “Irish Goodbye.” ELHS graduate Patrick Conaway, led this project and explains that he came up with the idea for “Irish Goodbye” when he graduated in 2023. Conaway explains that he took inspiration from other coming of age films such as “Little Women” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
The actors and crew of the film were collected from the ELHS drama department, the Niantic Bay Playhouse, and Ithaca College, where Conaway studies film. Conaway’s goal at the beginning of the project was to have enough people to produce “Irish Goodbye,” but it eventually led to drive the decision to form a production company, Latimer Brook Productions.
“I wanted each character to have a little piece of growth or change and something audiences could relate to,” Conaway said.
In the film each character had a reason for leaving after high school. The film is based around a party thrown by a group of friends; what is supposed to be their first hangout of the summer quickly turns to their last. Finn, (junior Cam D’Ettore) skips town to escape his toxic family, Grace, (senior Ayla Peterson), was to leave to help her family, Brie, (senior Paloma Vasquez), leaves because of a move, Danny (ELHS alumni Quinn Dwyer) leaves early for college, and Johnathan (senior Nathan Reith) joins the military. While the majority of the group leaves, Joey (senior Jane Campbell) is left behind for the summer, the film shows her conflicting emotions about her friends leaving while still wanting to make the most out of their last night together.
Many of the characters are based on people in Conaway’s life, such as his mom and her siblings. Brie, played by Paloma Vasquez, is based on Conaway’s mom and the struggles she faced growing up, losing her brother at a young age.
“My goal was to allow for a multi storyline film that gave audiences a lot of characters to empathize with, anyone who came could connect with someone,” Conaway said. letting people see people like them leaving their lives behind, with an abrupt goodbye, on the big screen helps ease some of the anxiety that comes with graduating high school and starting life in the real world.
Some viewers think that the film ends abruptly, but isn’t that what an Irish goodbye is? This film was colorful, with a multitude of characters for audiences to connect with, and cinematography that you could mistake with a Lionsgate film. This short film is the first to ever premiere at the Niantic Bay Playhouse, the cast and crew of “Irish Goodbye” hope to enter in film competitions and have the short film be seen by more audiences.
The cast members all had a blast while filming. “I absolutely love how this film came out, and I couldn’t have asked for better people to work with and to lift each other up. Seeing these characters evolve is so genuinely amazing because there are certain aspects of every character that I can relate to,” D’Ettore said.
