Musicals and Coffeehouses — Nof Just Fun and Games " - e annual Coffeehouse production ' and tenth, and featured the antics LB: neld in the gymnasium on November Lr j ~e kids at a fictional summer camp, c. ed “Camp Piranha." Everyone who fc-e to see it knows how well the actors fce T -:rmed on stage. But few members of - ' audience realize how much work on behind the scenes. - e purpose of the annual Coffeefee.:e production is to provide a different mz~ of situation than the usual concert, fer pc- DOI S version of a dinner theatre. Din- L-;- * it r members. IKork on the show starts almost immeW sn’t served, but people with reserved s receive cookies, bars, pop, and -;- " jts. These are all provided by the i'rly at the beginning of the year, when - °rice gets out different songs for the ; r to sing. From these songs, he ~ e choir to perform their songs. Cofir^ - ouse is also sort of Prairie High decides which ones might be good for Coffeehouse. Different themes for the script are suggested in September, and the whole choir votes on which one should be used. Next, a committee of students start writing the script. The script is sort of written around the songs that are chosen, but the writers also came up with a good plot this year. The writers don’t have to be choir members, but can be anyone interested in the project. Susan Marak, Debbie Ashbacher, Darren Bogner, Matthew Clothier, and Scott Boots wrote the script for “Camp Pirahna." About three weeks before the show, All the actors in the tryouts are held. show must be choir members, since Coffeehouse is a sort of jazzed-up choir concert. It isn’t until only two weeks before the show that rehearsals and set work start. A lot of work is done in that short time, since the other plays at Prairie have four to eight weeks for rehearsals and set construction. Because there is only a short time to put the show together, the whole choir has to pitch in and help build set, round up props, and make sure they're on stage at the right time. The musical, the well -known “Fiddler on the Roof," was held in the high school gymnasium, on March 14 and 15. Musical is a different type of production than Coffeehouse. The cast is not limited to choir members. Anyone can try out, but it helps if the person is able to sing. Tryouts are in mid-January, and rehearsals start the next week. There are about eight weeks of rehearsals before the show, so there’s more time to get things ready, and the show is better performed than Coffeehouse. crews, band, and especially the directors, all did a fantastic job with “Fiddler on the Roof." It was really a very wonderful show. The entire cast, Above: Patti Stallman played Lazar Wolf's dead wife, Fruma-Sara, who came back from the grave to haunt Tevye and Golde, in a dream Tevye supposedly has. This happens in “Fiddler on the Roof." Left: In this scene from “Fiddler on the Roof," Tevye, the poor milkman, considers a proposal he has just heard from Lazar Wolf, the wealthy butcher. Lazar has just asked for Tevye' s daughter ' s hand in marriage. Watching them is the Rabbi, played by Scott Boots. Tevye was Kurt Tjelmeland,and Lazar was Darren Bogner. In a scene from Coffeehouse, two hoodlums nie Feldmann and Angie Statler; and Chantel Lacey the ghetto eye the wealthy Chantel Lacey with was played by Nancy Cisar. In the background are cion as she tries to make friends. The two more hoodlums, played by Charlene Zach and hoodlums, Shelia and Jenny, were played by ConSusan Truitt. Musical 126 h: ~
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