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TWN and NHS join hands for "Godspell"
BY MARLI GUZZETTA
For the first time on island, The Theatre Workshop of Nantucket and Nantucket High School are officially combining talents and resources to put on a show - and Amen, I say unto you, what a show this promises to be.
For the high school's spring musical, actors from the school and from the community at-large will come together to perform "Godspell" - "an energetic series of skits about the life of Christ that was conceived and directed by John Michael Tebelak and is bursting with toe-tapping, hand-clapping, infectious music," according to TWN President Pam Murphy.
This isn't the first time area students are able to work with TWN. Nantucket High School students have crossed over to TWN productions in the past, but this show is more on their turf, Murphy said, "because it's their space and their show, and we're bringing technical expertise and direction and money. It brings adults into the kids' show, and the roles will be determined by who shows up at the audition. If we get a better teenage Jesus Christ, we get a teenage Jesus Christ in the show." (The organizations are not sure yet how they will split box office returns.)
The show's performance dates are currently scheduled for March 16-18, with auditions occurring Jan. 22 and 23 at Nantucket High School. (See below.) The size of the cast is flexible, but requires at least 8-12 men and women.
TWN Board Member, Director of Development and Community Outreach for the Nantucket AIDS Network and teacher of "Peer to Peer Leadership" at NHS, Gordon McGregor - who directed last year's NHS musical, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" - will direct the show while NHS Musical Director Barbara Elder is on a professional sabbatical. (Elder will still work on the show as a supervising coordinator.)
"This is a perfect opportunity to combine the incredible talents of the Nantucket youth with the knowledge and experience of the TWN team. I'm very excited about the whole idea," said McGregor, who originally came to Nantucket in 2003 to produce "Godspell" for the Nantucket Arts Council's Seaside Shakespeare Festival. For casting reasons, the show didn't happen then - nor did it occur at the end of 2006, when TWN had to remove the show from its schedule in order to conduct its search for a Production Director.
"There is not a better teacher than participating with older people and working in collaboration - sharing their talents and skills," McGregor said about having NHS students perform with local adults. "It's exciting in every way."
Enthusiastic new talent Robert Berhman, who became the Congregational Church's Music Director last spring, will be the show's musical director. Selectman Michael Kopko, who has played Judas twice in off-island productions of "Godspell," will assist in the set design.
"I really love the show, and when I heard Gordon was doing it, I was excited and said I'd love to help," said Kopko, who explained that the lighting is key to the successful staging of this show.
Elder echoed Murphy's statement that there has been a lot of overlapping of talent with Nantucket theater folk and adults assisting with high school productions in the past. "So many of us have worked back and forth between Theatre Workshop and the high school, but it's nice to make it a formal partnership - it will be nice combination
of good things," she said. I
When: Monday and Tuesday,
Jan. 22 and 23, 4 - 7 p.m.
Where: Nantucket High School
(Chorus Room - across from the
pool), 10 Surfside Road
For more information,
call Barbara Elder at 228-7280
or Pam Murphy at 228-4305.
"GODSPELL"
COMMUNITY-
WIDE
AUDITIONS
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