They’ve only been around a short while, but in that time, the SouthCoast Children’s Chorus has taken their show to a grand scale that’s showing no signs of stopping. In just a few short weeks, they will be taking the field at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark to sing the National Anthem before a matchup between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

“I told them at our February concert,” said Artistic Director Leslie Piper. “They went crazy!”

The chorus was formed in the winter of 2010 around the time of the Sippican Choral Society’s Winter Concert. The society’s director Brian Roderick had the idea to bring together five small local children’s church choirs for a large performance. Piper was the director of one of those small choirs.

“Each group tends to be pretty small, and when we came together, we had this wonderful sound,” Piper said. “I asked the Sippican Choral Society to keep this group together and they thought it was a great idea and were very willing to support us.”

Since that initial concert, the group has doubled in size. It now boasts 46 members from towns including Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport and Cuttyhunk Island. 40 of those members are in grades 3-12 and are part of the touring chorus. The remaining six members are in grades 1-2 and make up the prep chorus.

No matter the age, the kids are always willing to give their all. They rehearse once a week at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church in Marion.

“It is my belief that children will achieve whatever you expect them to achieve,” Piper said.  “If you set high standards, they will achieve high standards.  They have proven that they have an amazing work ethic.”

The group’s repertoire includes a variety of different traditional songs from countries all over the world in a multitude of different languages. From Hebrew to German, and from as far away as Africa, the kids are exposed to several different cultures.

“I love having the kids sing in different languages because they learn so quickly,” said Piper. “It’s wonderful to introduce them to these songs so we can introduce them to new cultures and broaden their understanding of the world.”

Despite the international selections, there is still one homegrown song that is a favorite of the group’s to perform- the Star Spangled Banner. In February, the group learned that they would be performing the anthem at Fenway Park on Sunday, July 8.

Piper submitted an audition CD to the Red Sox over a year ago, and this year, she received an e-mail confirming that they had been selected to perform.

“It was just one of those things,” Piper said. “My son sang the National Anthem at Fenway with his college group and I thought, ‘I’m going to try and get my kids up there. Who knows? We’ll take a chance.’”

In addition to shipping up to Boston, the chorus has traveled out to the western part of the state, most recently to South Hadley where they teamed up with another children’s chorus to put on a dual performance.

But Piper is looking to bring this group’s show on the road across the country.

“I would love to take them to a festival,” said Piper.  “There’s one in Chicago that would be exciting to be a part of.  They would have the chance to sing under a nationally recognized conductor and since with hundreds of other children from across the country. That would be really exciting”

With the size of the group doubling in the past year alone, Piper is thrilled at the idea of even more expansion.

“I would love to keep on expanding,” she said.  “My goal is to have more levels than we do now. I would love to have a select chorus with kids who want to work extra hard and do more touring and are extra serious.”

The SouthCoast Children’s Chorus will be holding auditions on Sunday, June 3 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm; Wednesday, June 6 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm and Sunday June 10 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm. All auditions will be held at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church located at 124 Front St. in Marion. For more information, e-mail Piper at lesliepiper@msn.com

By Katy Fitzpatrick

The words of playwright William Shakespeare filled the auditorium at Old Rochester Regional High School on Thursday, May 17 as the students in Kathleen Brunelle’s theater class presented their interpretation of “The Comedy of Errors,” a complicated tale involving two sets of twins whose identities become mistaken by the other characters. The production’s cast consisted of 24 students who were supported by two stage managers and two assistant directors.

Brunelle served as a director for the drama along with Paul Sardinha, who stepped in to help with the production when Brunelle left the school on maternity leave.

“I need to thank Paul for taking the reins,” Brunelle said before the show. “He’s really gone above and beyond in helping out.”

In her introduction, Brunelle also thanked three students for being in her classroom the entirety of their four years at ORR. These students were Eric Geldmacher, Lucas Parker, and Ashley Perry.

“We have a mix of kids in the class,” Brunelle said of the elective. “We have students who have never acted before and we have veteran actors, so they learn from each other.”

Brunelle added that a show like “The Comedy of Errors” requires the students to work together to determine both what the lines mean and how to convey those meanings to the audience.

In the original text, both sets of twins are male. In the ORR rendition, these twins were female. Male students, keeping to Shakespearean tradition, played half of these characters. Samuel Hill, who took on the role of Antipholous of Syracuse, performed as the servant to Eric Geldmacher’s Dromia of Syracuse.

Makenzie Despres performed as Samuel Hill’s twin and Kayla Ryan performed as Eric Geldmacher’s.  Lucas Parker played Aegeon, and Shannon Frink played his wife, Aemelia. Steven Lang played Adriano, while Ian MacLellan played his brother, Luciano.  Alex Carr featured as the Duke Solinus, and Eliza Treichel appeared as Angela, the goldsmith. Ashley Perry played Balta, Brittany Brzezinski played Luce, and Samuel Carey played Nathan.

Other members of the cast included: Marie Sylvester, Tess Roiter, Nicole Enos, Dennis Blais, Courtney McLeod, Nicole Boardman, Ashley Monger, Christina Ahrens, Roslyn Flaherty, Violet Foulk, and Anna Haznar.

Juliana Marques and Violet Foulk served as stage managers for the production. The assistant directors, Megan Pierce and Madelyn Pellegrino, assisted them in their work.

In the plot of the play, a family was split apart by a stormy sea. The father, Aegeon, tied himself to one mast with one of each twin, while his wife, Aemelia, did the same with the other twins. One family went to Syracuse and the other went to Ephesus; the two cities were warring.

In the course of the play, Dromia and Antipholous of Syracuse travel to Ephesus in order to search for their missing halves.  Hilarity ensues when the townsfolk mistake each twin for the other.  Some twins are suspected of illness and insanity, while others are accused of crimes. It is not until the last scene of the play when the twins, whom the other characters believe are both inside and outside a convent, find each other and celebrate a reunion with their parents.

Judging by the audience’s reaction, Samuel Hill and Eric Geldmacher stole the show with their falsettos and hair-flipping. The pair was unbelievable on stage, expertly portraying their characters by exaggerating feminine mannerisms. They had honest chemistry as mistress-and-servant, which stemmed from their friendship and banter in class. Connecting to the audience, Eric Geldmacher tossed his blonde wig into the audience during curtain call.

The theater class is a half-year elective open to all students at ORR. It runs during the spring semester and welcomes students with and without stage experience.

By Anne Smith