Over the years I was drafted into several school plays at Charles Wright when I returned to the school as a teacher. I played a drunken Pole sitting at a bar in Saroyan’s Time of Your Life, directed by Donn Laughlin. With few lines (Laughlin knew my limitations), I had to fill a couple of hours of stage time each night while resisting Lyle Peniston’s ’74 attempts to crack me up. This play was performed in the old bus shed next to the Lower School.

About the same time, I was cast in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, playing a psychiatrist, again with few lines. In the early seventies with stage makeup I could pass for an adult in low light. That play, with stunning lead performances by Kevin O’Rourke ’74, Mary Dupuis, and Don Dobler ’75, was performed on the senior stage in the commons.

My next play was Fiddler on the Roof, where I played a rabbi. I guess that director Ruth Palmerlee spotted a special spiritual quality in me that fit the role. The rest of the world has yet to spot it. That play we didn’t even perform at CWA; we rented the theater at Steilacoom High School.

Most recently I played a cross-dressing drama critic in The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of Macbeth, directed by John Forier and featuring Andrew Evans. That play was done in what I still call the study hall but is currently the band room.

Of four plays in which I had a part, we were in a real theater only once and that was when we went to Steilacoom. Charles Wright has a proud history of theater, but has never really had the facilities to support the program. This campaign is an exciting time for many of us who over the years remember those great productions in those inadequate spaces. The same could be said for the music program. If they were to beg me to return for just the right role …. Just kidding.

Lindsey Evans, Kate Ellwanger, Alex Martin, Andy Boyd, Clark Hill, Toby Shorin, Kate Vorhoff and Mary Wakefield all shine in leading roles. They’ve developed each of their characters with subtle and not-so-subtle pop cultural references to the 80s, the 90s and the Pacific Northwest which will keep the adults in the audience entertained. At the same time, they stick to the plot, script and score of movie faithfully enough to captivate die-hard Oz fans and first time viewers alike.

The members of the Ozzian chorus, Aubrey Kendall, Grace Oberhofer, Winnie Wakaba, Ashley Williams, Emily Harper, Hope Sussman, Genevieve Forier, Iean Drew, Jerrud Glaze and Jens Winship, put just as much into the show as the lead actors and their clever choreography and beautiful singing really bring the wonders of Oz to life.

In the center-stage pit, Xavier Al-Mateen, Kara Chevrier, Alex King, Dan Shattuck, Lucia Shen and Angela Yang keep the show moving along with a very challenging musical score. Accompanying soloists is no easy task and they do a beautiful job.

The set, costuming, sound, lighting and spectacular special effects are perhaps the most creative aspects of this production and credit goes to Katie Young, Reagan Haroldson, Lisa Carson, Chris Paulson, Samantha Sesnon, Susan Blyler, Fiona Clark, Alex Coddington, Sam Dsner, Austin Kuhn, Sean Matson, Sarah Vasquez, Arianna Benfanti, Jin Chun, Shelly Culbertson, Abby Holmes, Jordan Seto and Sarah Threet.

The struggle between good and evil is alive and well in this show, and evil isn’t evil if it isn’t scary. Lower School students will probably want to sit close to mom and dad for a few scenes, but they will undoubtedly love the show.

Behind the scenes, many members of the Charles Wright faculty helped the students produce this show and special recognition goes to John Forier (director and designer), Heidi Huckins (pit director), Chelsea Carter (costume designer), Mike Moffitt (tech director and pit sub), and Aimee Mell (music director).

The lesson most of us learned from The Wizard of Oz is that we already have all we need to succeed in life – heart, brains and courage. And of course, we learned that there’s no place like home. However, the opening and closing of this show, and the mysterious absence of Toto in this production, point to the deeper psychological questions this story presents. It will give you something to ponder on your way home, while humming that catchy Winkie marching tune.

View photos online at: photos.charleswright.org

There are very few seats left for the remaining shows, so if you have not already done so, give Phyllis a call at (253) 620-8300 to reserve your seat.

Shows are:
Friday, February 8 at 7:30pm
Saturday, February 9 at 7:30pm

Performances will be held in the Upper School music room. Guests enter through the commons. Admission is $7 for students, faculty and staff. General admission is $10.

A special performance has been scheduled for Lower and Middle School families on
Saturday, February 9 at 2:00pm.

Admission for this show only is $5 for adults and students are free. All funds raised at this show will help send the band to the Heritage Festival in Anaheim, California, later this spring.

My first introduction to CWA was courtesy of Jennifer Laughlin Stewart. Jennifer and I met as sophomores at PLU in French class. That winter, she invited me to see her father’s production of Catch 22. We were college students now, so I wasn’t too sure about this high school performance, but I went anyway. I had never been to Charles Wright or even University Place, for that matter.

I remember it being quite dark, walking a very long distance from my car, up stairs, into the building, through this cement room, outside, up another set of stairs and finally into the theater. If someone had yelled fire, I would have been lost! On entering the theater, the thing that struck me most was the set, which was amazing. Simple and yet it contained such intricate details, from the period cot to the camouflage netting hanging on the wall. Until I came as Donn’s vocal coach on West Side Story, I had no idea what kind of space the “theater” actually was.

I carry such wonderful memories of student performances: Of Nikki Pryanyski ’99 playing a medium. Of Beth (Olson) Sutro ‘93 as Mama in Fiddler. Of Caitlyn McLaughlin ’01 as Dorothy, as Little Red Riding Hood, and then on the cover of the state solo and ensemble program. Of the first time the small vocal women’s ensemble took first at a contest, and then the second time, and then when we couldn’t sing because Brittany (Haroldson) Brown ‘99 got the chicken pox, and then Becca Spence ’00 and Jenny George taking first the next year.

Of Drew Weyerhaeuser ‘00 and Laird Bennion ’00 as princes, which they are. Of Ben Weyerhaeuser ’02 singing “Walls of Zion” and then those four boys from the class of 2002, Jake Wham and Alex Henry and Ben and George Costakis, in their tuxes at the Lakewood McDonald’s before singing at a board retreat. Of Alex singing like a girl in that silly, fun-loving quartet that brought the house down. Of them singing “Goodnight, My Angel” as a surprise to me and then unborn Ella at our last concert before I took maternity leave.

One of my other favorite memories was running sectionals in small vocal. I would put a group in the office, a group in the room, a group (small, please) in the piano room up stairs and a group in the storage closet – we’d draw straws for who got stuck in the closet. And yet the students thrived.

I remember talking to Sam and Nathalie Brown at our last First Night’s Supper before High Sprits. I made a less than complimentary comment about the “theater.” Nathalie remarked that perhaps it was the adversity that gave rise to such stellar performances. The adults and student alike have done amazing things in amazing places, and I’m glad to see that the performing and language arts have survived the adversity and can’t wait to see what is possible with what is to come.

Julie was a founding member of Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, a resident ensemble at St. James Cathedral. She has also sung with the Tudor Choir, including performing Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She has sung with the St. James Cathedral Choir and Women’s Schola and most recently has sung with the Northwest Repertory Singers. She is also a frequent soloist in the area.

Julie earned a bachelor of music in vocal performance from Pacific Lutheran University, studying with Barbara Poulshock and Mira Frohnmayer. She has also studied with Marianne Weltmann, Marcia Baldwin and Charles Peterson. Julie currently teaches music at Sunset Primary School, a kindergarten through fourth grade school, and directs children’s music at Mt. Cross Lutheran Church. She is also a frequent adjudicator for both solo and ensemble and choral contests in the Puget Sound region.

Rainbow Crow is the story of how Crow got his black feathers and hoarse voice and it’s a tale of selflessness and service to others. Rainbow Crow is a legend from the Lenni Lenape people, Native Americans living in the area of New Jersey around the Delaware River, lower Hudson River and Long Island Sound.

Suzy Ebalo, Beginning School teacher, considers the play her favorite project of the year. As the kids make totem poles for the play, Ebalo needs to constantly reassure them she’s okay as she repeatedly burns herself with the hot glue gun.

You can watch the 2007 production of Rainbow Crow online. Just choose the format that’s will work best on your computer. This link is accessible to the general public, so feel free to email it to friends and relatives who will enjoy watching the play as well. Just click here to watch the video.