Observing the Tabor students as they prepare for the opening night of their annual musical production Thoroughly Modern Millie, one could feel the electricity in the air.
While Director John Heavey was pointing, calling out instructions, encouraging, correcting, and putting the actors and crew through their paces, it was easy to see that everyone was having a good time. And yet there was something else brewing in the Fireman Center for the Performing Arts as the students pranced across the stage or belted out a few bars from one of the songs: an obvious commitment to each other.
Heavey has been directing theater productions at Tabor for some time, and each time he is pleasantly pleased by how hard the students work and how much they want to do so – not only for a fine performance, but for each other. “We rehearse for hundreds of hours,” he said.
Since November when the call went out for auditions and up until days before the production opens, the students have been perfecting the show.
“We are together two hours every weekday and at least three hours on Saturday,” Heavey said. As for the students whose rigorous academic schedules can’t be set aside, allocating this much time to the show is a sacrifice they are all willing to make. Youthful exuberance aside, these students are pros.
Aurelia Reynolds of Sandwich, a junior this year, plays Millie.
“I’ve been acting since I was six and dancing since I was four,” she shared while preparing for rehearsal. “It feels like a million hours of practice,” Reynolds said showing off a million dollar smile.
Reynolds plans to attend medical school after graduation, but believes that music and performing will continue to factor into her schedule. She said she is at home on stage. In this production, she’ll be able to showcase her singing and dancing skills perfected over what is already a long performance career.
Heavey said this production has about 50 students coming together as actors and stage crew. He made the point that anyone who comes out to audition is given a role, either on stage or off in one of the many supporting pieces from props, to lighting, to sound, to wardrobe. No one is left out.
Choreographer and dance team coach Danielle LaTullippe said, “There is a steep learning curve.” The students have labored long and hard to make the physicality of the play look smooth and seamless, she assured.
“If someone is a good dancer, we’ll place them up front,” Heavey shared. “If a student wants to dance, but isn’t as seasoned, we’ll let them dance without making them feel uncomfortable on stage.”
Another student actor, Penyyuan Zhai, said he finds the play is a lot like the story “The Bearable Lightness of Being.”
Zhai, from China, is a senior this year. Previously he acted in the school’s production of Legally Blonde.
“This play is about finding a balance in love, a comedy about coming of age, that’s important for teenagers,” Zhai explained. “When you are on stage, you can be anyone!” Zhai added enthusiastically. Zhai is also a cross-country runner, which is something he found beneficial given the amount of singing and dancing the show physically demands.
Heavey knows the importance of guiding all these moving parts to synchronized perfection but also appreciates that he is working with teenagers.
“They get to make their own discoveries during this process,” said Heavey. “That’s good because we want them to own it.”
And own it they will on February 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30 pm at the Fireman Performing Arts Center, Tabor Campus, Front Street, Marion. Admission is free. Performance is priceless.
By Marilou Newell
