By EMILY TRACY, guest columnist
Performing arts has been a staple in Brown County Schools throughout many years.
We know that when children have access to music, theater and art programs, their imaginations flourish and they have the chance to explore and develop new interests and talents.
We talk about world class opportunities here at Brown County and our theater department is thriving with a new theater director at Brown County High School, Mr. Dan Lyng.
Mr. Lyng has served Brown County Schools for four years. His career began as the vocal teacher at Brown County Middle School and Brown County Intermediate School.
We are excited for the upcoming season of performing arts and what could be better than a great mystery? Brown County High School students will present “Clue: On Stage (High School Edition)” on Oct. 29, 30 and 31. There will be four performances: Two evening shows on Oct. 29 and 30; and two matinee performances on Oct. 30 and 31.
Evening shows will begin at 7 p.m. and matinees will begin at 2 p.m. Each show will last approximately an hour and a half. All shows will be held in the Brown County High School Auditorium, 235 S. Schoolhouse Lane.
Tickets cost $5 per student and $7 per adult at the door; kids 3 and younger are admitted free.
Check this out! Any person that arrives with a costume on will be entered into a drawing to win two complimentary tickets for our spring musical “Mamma Mia!”
Here are some student perspectives on this fall’s production.
“Tryouts started out with each of us receiving a packet with a chunk of lines of each main cast member for us to look at and a character description. We could choose which character that we felt we needed to play and practiced on our time to get better at reading those lines. At the actual audition we would read our lines out on the stage in front of Mr. Lyng and the other auditionees. Mr. Lyng would give us other characters to read for, if he felt like it was needed,” said Lynsey Summers, who plays a Cook and Mustard.
“Callbacks were on Aug. 18 and we repeated the same process we did the first set of auditions. After we were finished we either got an email or were told the next day what our role in the play would be. The rehearsals all started out decently slow. In the beginning, we would spend a full practice working on a smaller scene and if it was bigger it might’ve taken two. Nearing the performance, the cast members and the tech crew definitely had to become more serious. During rehearsals we would go through two smaller scenes and one large scene and would have to have our lines memorized by the next practice we had. We had no room for monkeying-around.”
“It’s difficult working on both crew and the cast, however, I find it fun because I enjoy acting and like being able to help out behind the scenes,” said Eli Clark, who plays Mr. Green and is props master.
“It’s definitely a lot of work because you have to memorize blocking and lines and organize things in the script while also organizing things on set, not just props.”
“I feel pretty good about the show. Might be one of our best ones yet,” said sound manager Nathan Riggle.
”Clue: On Stage (High School Edition)” based on the screenplay by Jonathon Lynn, written by Sandy Rustin Additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price based on the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Based on the Hasbro board game CLUE. Original Music by Michael Holland.
Emily Tracy is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can
be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
