The curtain will raise this week for Festus High School’s production of the musical, “Annie.”
It will be the school’s first play in the new Festus R-6 Performing Arts Center, 501 Westwind Drive.
The Festus Middle School Tiger Talent program christened the 750-seat theater with “Aladdin Jr.” in February.
Show times for “Annie” will be at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 24-26, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 27.
Tickets are available at the door for $5. Doors open one hour before shows start.
The musical, which is based on the comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie,” is well known for the songs, “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard-Knock Life.”
The Support Our Stars (SOS) theater booster group will sell concessions.
Festus High teacher William Borgmeyer, who is directing the play, said Superintendent Link Luttrell encouraged him to stage the production of “Annie.”
“He’s been after me since they announced the new Performing Arts Center that he wanted that to be the first play in it,” Borgmeyer said. “He’s been suggesting this for a couple of years. I got to thinking that we have all the right pieces in place to put it on, so I went for it.”
Borgmeyer said sophomore Saigel Mickan, 16, is doing a great job playing the title role.
“She is a very unique talent,” he said. “She had a lot of stage experience before she got here.
Mickan said she set her sights on playing the orphan when Borgmeyer announced his selection for the spring musical.
“I played Annie when I was really young, 8 years old, at the Sunshine Academy when I lived in Arkansas, so I’m very familiar with the story and really wanted to be Annie again,” she said.
A freshman, Annabelle Whitener, will play another important role – Grace, the assistant to Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, the millionaire who adopts Annie out of an orphanage run by an oppressive director.
Senior Logan Kuykendall, 17, who plans to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia this fall, plays Warbucks.
“It’s probably the only show that we’ve performed that I watched before. Because of that, I knew I really wanted to go out for Warbucks,” he said. “This is my last production, and ‘Annie’ is one of my favorite shows. I knew I did not want to pass up that opportunity.”
Senior Kyle Schackmann, 18, who plans to study theater this fall at Jefferson College, said he did some extra preparation to play President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“I looked up his speeches,” Schackmann said. “He has a very distinctive voice, and I’m trying to copy it as best I can. Listening to his speeches has helped a lot.”
Senior Simon Wallace, 17, jokingly said he didn’t have to do a lot of research to play Lt. Ward, who apprehends Annie after an escape attempt and returns her to the orphanage.
“I play a cop, so I get to boss people around, which I like,” he said. “I bring Annie back to the orphanage, which she doesn’t want to go back to. I really like the role. I think I just like being a jerk. It’s just my thing.”
Borgmeyer said the show includes about 70 talented students in the cast and crew.
“I think the chance to work in the Performing Arts Center may have something about getting them out,” he said.
The crew has worked long hours to acclimate themselves to the new facility.
Camilla Ganey, 17, a senior who plans to study marketing at the University of Missouri in Columbia, has handled the spotlights in every production during her high school career, but said it’s different this time around.
“It’s a challenge to get to know the new equipment, but it’s very nice new equipment, and the spotlights are a lot easier to operate,” she said.
Ganey said she’s glad to be a part of the first high school play at the new place.
“In 50 years, I’m going to know that I was still part of the first high school play here,” she said. “But I plan on doing spotlights when I get to college, so it’s not going to be my last play.”
Festus High teacher Erin Pruneau is the assistant director.
Other cast members include students Emily Reed, Chaz Seitz, Maddy Griffin, Alex Pratt, Kamaryn Stanfill, Luke Wallace, Evan Baum, Mackenzie Weston, Lexi Flotron, Astaria Herring, Olivia Schweppe, Mia Fjone, Crystal Nguyen, Emma Zimmerly, Carter Zinn, Cale Huskey, Joey Huntsman, Sara Baum, Emma Bennett, Molly Shepherd, Will Dolde, Zach Rector, Katie Bohnert, Brian Rhodes, McKenna Rhine, Haley Ide, Connor Zustiak, Peyton Willis, Kaidyn Stanfill, Mackenzie Stockton, Mallory Burton, Tobi Beck and Kylie Clinton.
