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| Weekday shows in Ardmore! |
Show 5: Intrusion, Presented by Murray State College, Brass Ring Center for Performing Arts, Ardmore, OK
I was extremely excited when I saw MSC was bringing this show in. It was an hour long show written and starring Qurrat Ann Kadwani. The show was set twenty years in the future at a time when sexual violence and rape had been eliminated, however a rape was reported, the first one in two decades. Through the show she played eight different characters who were dealing with this crime in various ways. The show has played in New York Off Broadway and was extremely timely, especially with the protests occurring on Broadway regarding a casting choice in the revival of West Side Story. I'm not sure saying I 'enjoyed' the show is the right wording, however, it was extremely well done and informative. She wove narrative with statistics and facts relevant to society today. I have linked the website for the show above if you would like more information about it. I found it to be a very important piece of theatre.
Show 6: Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook, Goddard Center, Ardmore, OK
On the complete flip side came Junie B. Jones. This show was part of the Goddard Center's outreach to students and was cast with Ardmore Little Theatre actors. I was able to take 25 of my intermediate/advanced students. It was a nice little brain break for them from the rigor that their class tends to be. I thought the sets were darling and the staging made everything very easy to follow, even for the youngest theatre patron. It was also nice to see so many young faces having the opportunity to enjoy the theatre. My kids were, by far, the oldest there and they were wonderful role models for the little ones in attendance.
Leap of Faith Update
We kicked off rehearsals for Leap of Faith last Thursday. Our first rehearsal was music with the whole company. I'm not terribly familiar with this show, having only seen it once when a friend was in it. When I got the cast recording to review I was pleased to see that it had an all star cast (including Raul Esparza, Kendra Kassebaum, and Leslie Odom, Jr.). The cast is great and I'm getting to work with some of my favorite people so I'm sure it is going to be another fabulous theatre experience. We had our second rehearsal tonight with the two leads. Mark you calendars because it should be a great evening of theatre the first weekend in March!
AMS Drama Update
We went to our second tournament of 2020 over the weekend. I took 14 students (should have been 15, but one got super sick the night before) and 28 events. Of those 19 were in finals and 12 were in the top three. We won sweepstakes, but more importantly the kids acted as a team. There were six newbies (and three broke to finals!) and the old timers showed them the ropes. They supported each other and got excited when their teammates placed even if that meant they didn't. I could not be more proud of them if I tried. We also had an epic 10 minute adventure to the Dollar General across the street! One more tournament and then we are on a two month hiatus where we will focus on perfecting events and getting duets ready to go.
Theatre News
I was going to mention that the Tulsa Performing Arts Center released their 2020-2021 season (which they did and you can check it out with the link), but Lin-Manuel Miranda dropped a doosey of gossip on us today:
Hamilton, filmed at the Richard Rogers theatre and featuring the principals from the Original Broadway Cast, will be in cinema October 15, 2021. It is reported that Disney paid $75 million to acquire the rights for this. I'm excited because this will give many the opportunity to see the show that wouldn't otherwise and it will give everyone the chance to see the OBC (and me the chance to see Daveed Diggs and Jonathan Groff!).
In Next Week's Post
Saturday: Third tournament of 2020