With a new year comes a new lineup of performances brought to you by Millikin’s School of Theatre and Dance (SOTAD).
The first in line is “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” originally written by Betsy Kelso and published in 2006.
“It takes place in Florida,” freshman musical theatre major Dylan Carlyon, who plays the character of Duke, said. “It takes place in a trailer park. It centers around a couple. They’ve been together for a while. Their names are Norbert and Jeannie. And Jeannie has agoraphobia, so she can’t really step outside her trailer park, and so that’s kind of the problem they’re dealing with.”
But that’s not all that the show contains. The musical centers around the primary themes of love, adultery, and dysfunctional relationships. Beyond that, the show is bound to touch hearts.
“One thing that we’ve been talking about in rehearsals from the very beginning is, Jeff, our director, wants to make it so clear that not only is the show hilarious, but also how much heart it has,” senior musical theater major Cami Jones (Betty), said. “It’s hilarious, and you will cry from laughing, but also there’s just a lot of humanity to it, and it’s a really beautiful escape from what’s going on right now.”
The actors and crew have dedicated the past six weeks to long rehearsals in preparation for the show and they cannot wait to perform something they’ve worked hard for.
The musical will feature students Cami Jones as Betty, Leah Flint as Lin, Milly Czechanski as Pickles, Emma Schuth as Jeannie, Croix Baker as Norbert, Mckenna Sharkey as Pippi, and Dylan Carlyon as Duke. Included in the list is Nikki Jason, the cover for Jeannie and Betty, Griffin Schoon, Norbert and Duke’s cover, Tommy Tracy, Pickles and Lin’s cover, and Natalie Brodsky as Pippi’s cover.
With this cast, the show is bound to be great, bringing hilarious and heart-felt moments to the stage. But that can’t be concluded without the wonderful crew, working tirelessly backstage to bring the set to life.
“We have a number of moving parts backstage,” Mia McCartney, a freshman stage management major and assistant stage manager said. “A lot of the trailer doors are open to show the inside of the trailers, to show both what’s going on outside and inside. It’s a pretty big moving part. And then we have a ton of props. They [the cast] make a lot of jokes, and those jokes require them to have props.”
With all of this packed into one show, it’s bound to be a great performance.
Performances will run March 5th, 6th, and 7th at 7:30 pm and March 8th at 2:00 pm at the Virginia Rogers Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online at $25.00, or free for Millikin students at the ticket office two hours prior to each performance.
A free ticket is the perfect opportunity to see the show come to life, so get them while you can.
