Sigourney Weaver surprises NJ students during their production of 'Alien'
NORTH BERGEN, New Jersey (WABC) -- Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the classic sci-fi movie, 'Alien.' What a way to celebrate than with an encore production of the play 'Alien' from kids at a high school in New Jersey.
The first version of the North Bergen High School production went viral - but if the students were wondering what Lieutenant Ripley thought about their play - now they know.
Sigourney Weaver herself surprised the students, met them and sat in the audience.
"Oh my gosh, they were screaming, crying. Our one girl that plays Ripley was just hugging her, she couldn't believe it. It was great. It was pretty awesome - it's just a great validation of what we did today," says play director Perfecto Cuervo.
Gabriella Delacruz, who plays Lieutenant Ripley said that seeing Sigourney is 'still unreal.'
"I really can't believe it. Playing Ripley honestly has been such an honor, just considering how monumental her character was in moving forward strong women roles," she said.
To think of the impact the movie and that role had - Delacruz was not even born yet when the movie came out. Yet the student actors produced a play so out of this world - it went viral with millions of hits. It even got Sigourney Weaver's attention on Twitter.
Eyewitness News spoke with the students last month, but at the time, they had run out of money for the show to go on.
The director of Aliens, Ridley Scott, jumped in and donated $5,000, and Friday's encore performance came alive.
Meanwhile, the play was initially meant to be a fundraiser for a drama club.
"We always wanted to build a drama club, and this may have kickstarted us," says North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco.
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