Seckman High School students will perform a nontraditional musical in an untraditional location this year.
The students will put on “Sunday in the Park with George” on April 9-12 in the Jefferson College Fine Arts Theater, 1000 Viking Drive, in Hillsboro. Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. April 9-11 and 2 p.m. April 12.
Tickets cost $10 each and may be purchased at seckmantheatre.ludus.com or at the theater.
The musical is a work of historical fiction by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine based on Georges Seurat’s work “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette.”
The two-act play starts in 1884 France and examines Seurat’s painting, introducing each character depicted in the work and the artist’s struggle of connecting with people, especially his love interest Dot, due to being consumed by his work.
The second act jumps to 1984, and it focuses on Seurat’s fictional great-grandson, George, who also is an artist and is struggling with inspiration.
Actors play two different roles in each act, such as senior Noah Brownlow, 18, who lives in the Arnold area, performing the role of both Georges.
“It is very different from anything that I have ever seen or done,” Brownlow said. “It is very in depth.”
Director Chris Owens, Seckman High’s theater and debate teacher, said the play will be performed at Jefferson College instead of Rickman Auditorium in Arnold, where most Fox C-6 School District productions are held, due to set demands.
“It requires the use of a fly system, which is how you use ropes in the back to fly scenery out,” Owens said. “This one benefits from the use of that.”
Challenging show
Owens said nearly all of the students did not know about “Sunday in the Park with George,” which was part of the reason he chose the musical by Sondheim, whose more well-known works include “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
“I thought it would be a good challenge for the kids,” he said. “(The students) do end up enjoying the challenge of taking on works that are maybe college level or higher.”
Senior Cameron Crinnion, 17, who lives in the Arnold area, said it is different playing two distinct characters in the same play. She portrays Celeste No. 2 with her sister, Danielle, who is Celeste No. 1, in the first act, and she is Elaine in the second act.
“In the first act, I am a gossip girl,” Cameron said. “In the second act, I am George’s caretaker. There is a complete switch in character personality. It is challenging and fun.”
Danielle, who is a 15-year-old freshman, said she enjoyed researching the musical and watching performances on YouTube to prepare for her roles. In the second act, Danielle portrays a waitress.
She said the two acts offer different experiences.
“The first act is in the 1800s; you wear bustles and act old,” Danielle said. “In Act 2, it is in the ’80s, it is very different and more colorful. There also is more excitement.”
Owens said along with the same actors playing two separate characters, the musical is challenging because it does not follow a traditional story or timeline.
In the first act, the various people in the painting are introduced and given back stories, and one of the main focal points is the relationship between Seurat and Dot.
“It is not in a linear format,” Owens said. “We will jump from one scene with a picture flying in that puts them in a different place and time.”
Owens said everything is thrown even more for a loop in the second act as the time period jumps ahead 100 years and the focus shifts to George, who learns that he may be Seurat’s great-grandson from his grandmother Marie and finds inspiration from his art by connecting with the park painting.
“It is a lot of fun,” Owens said of the nontraditional storytelling style. “It gives (the students) an opportunity to flesh out the characters in the first act as well as they can, and they completely switch it up in the second act. They are not playing the same characters at all. It gives them the opportunity to try different things inside of the same show.”
Junior Myranda Tucker, 17, of Imperial said the cast is doing a good job of portraying different characters, and the crew has done a good job of shifting the time periods between acts.
“I think everyone is having fun transforming into a more modern character in Act 2,” said Tucker, who portrays Franz in the first act and Dennis in the second act. “(Act 2) is where a lot of weight will be pulled with set and custom design. There is a big difference 100 years after the 1800s. We have a talented cast who are willing to experiment and be two different characters.”
Cast members also include: seniors Anna Fischer, Ava Shores, Jake Row, Maddy Procter, Carter Looney and Maggie Mertz; juniors Naomi Lauer, Max Eldridge, Addie McCarty and Devin Lograsso; sophomores Jay Jackson, Peyton Hegel, Jayden Moffis and Greg Wilson; freshman Liam Artz; seventh graders Fallon Martin and Everett Childs and sixth grader Zo Darian.