‘Godspell’ This Weekend—

Performers Working To Establish Permanent Summer Theater Program

By John Voket

More than a dozen talented Newtown High School graduates have been working daily since mid-July to bring the light and entertaining Broadway musical Godspell to the stage here. The loose collection of thespians, musicians and performing artists have established a non profit group called Newtown Foundation for the Arts (NFFA), and their musical interpretation of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew will hit the boards at Newtown High this Friday and Saturday, August 6 and 7, at 7:30 pm.

Tickets for the show are available at the door, and are priced at $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students. Although each actor in the nine-member cast has worked with one or more other members in local productions over the years, NFFA spokesperson Sheila O’Connor said this show marks the first collaboration among this set of actors.

The cast includes Ms O’Connor, who also is serving as co-producer/co-director along with cast member Beth English, publicity spokesperson and capital fundraiser – she’s even in charge of hiring the band! Other cast members include Brett Boles playing Jesus, Travis Finlayson as Judas, and chorus ensemble members Matt McFadden, Jenine Pixley, Matt Grills, Lauren Harmata and Mike DeLuca.

Ms O’Connor said the cast and small crew, including stage manager Chris Timmel, have had a full plate this summer. In addition to Godspell, they have all served as counselors for Summer Theater Connection which just last weekend completed staging Cinderella with a cast of younger actors and singers from the community.

“We started the Foundation last summer and put on the play Blood Brothers,” said Ms O’Connor. “But this year we really wanted to make a name for the group, so we chose Godspell because it is so popular, and so much fun for the audience.”

Ms O’Connor said the group was so dedicated to its mission of establishing a permanent summer theater program for local high school and college students, that they started putting Godspell together before they even had funding in place to stage the show. But thanks to a combination of public fund raising previews and numerous local business owners, family members and friends, the troupe has managed to raise a substantial amount of capital for the production.

“We’ve raised almost $6,000 so far,” said Ms O’Connor. “We collected more than half of that money during previews of our musical numbers at St Rose Parish, and performing out in front of Dunkin’ Donuts and Stop & Shop.”

According to Ms O’Connor, the choice to do Godspell was based as much on its popularity, as it was the ease of staging the musical.

“We’ve got really simple sets, and the costumes were put together by cast members bringing in brightly colored items from home,” Ms O’Connor said. “Then we had a costume advisor help us match the items to the appropriate cast members.”

Instead of conducting open auditions for the show, Ms O’Connor said the cast was assembled from members of last summer’s production, along with other singers and actors from the High School music and drama programs.

“We were familiar with the vocal abilities and styles of each actor, so we just matched them to the parts best suited for each person,” she said.

Most of the cast and crew are pursuing some type of theater or music major at their respective colleges, but others are following different academic paths. Ms O’Connor said one cast member is a business major, while another is getting a degree in engineering.

On Monday evening, the cast gathered to run through the production in costume at Newtown High School. As Mr Boles, outfitted for his role as Jesus in suspenders and a Superman logo across his chest, guides the cast through improvisational interpretations of several popular parables, the other actors transform themselves for roles in the stories, or set pieces.

In one parable calling for a cast member to be thrown in jail, the actors quickly assemble themselves into a human jail cell, complete with bars and a clanking gate. In another, cast members become dogs licking the imaginary wounds of a sinner.

Active and simply-choreographed dance numbers are intertwined with songs, including the popular hit “Day By Day,” sung with sensitivity and conviction by Ms Pixley.

Ms O’Connor believes this summer’s show will help establish the group as a permanent entity in Newtown.

“It’s getting easier to do fundraising already,” she said. “But in years to come, we’ll be able to put on more current or popular shows which will make it easier to raise capital, and attract sponsors and advertisers who help underwrite expenses including hiring musicians and securing performing rights.”

Ms O’Connor is unsure whether or not the leadership of the NFFA will continue with her partnership, or will constantly attract new leadership as its student members transition from high school, to college and into the working world.

“I’m going to stay involved in the near future, but any long-term commitment on any of our parts is going to depend on where we end up after college,” Ms O’Connor said. “If the current members move on to other careers, at least we’ll have an established program to pass on to graduates who are interested in continuing on the tradition.”