Other Voices

Andy Maycock directs filming at the Altamont Manor for a trailer to promote the romantic comedy he wrote, “The Best Man’s Privilege.” An English teacher at Guilderland High School who produces the school plays and musicals, Maycock is using some of his former students in the cast. The plot centers on a groom who unwittingly signals an escape plan — promoted by his best man — from his own wedding. He then has to win back his hurt and angry bride. Maycock has loved theater since he was a kid and shares his passion with Guilderland students. Six hours before The Guilderland Players’ spring musical, “Chicago,” was to open, the county’s first case of COVID-19 shut it down. “The set is still up, like a museum,” says Mayock in this week’s podcast. As students head back to school this month, Maycock has figured a way they can have a school play. He’ll come up with a theme on which English students can write monologues — some will be filmed at home and others broadcast from the high school stage. Maycock became emotional as he described the way theater friends and former students came together to help him with “The Best Man’s Privilege,” which solidified his faith in people. “Everybody I asked said yes.” In the age of coronavirus, “That’s the lesson we should take,” Maycock said.