11/1/07

Opening Night--The Curious Savage

PKR made his directorial debut tonight in his first Kellogg High School production as the new Drama Instructor. He came out to introduce the play. Tonight was opening night for "The Curious Savage."
The Princess played the part of Fairy May, one of the residents at "The Cloisters", a sanitorium. Here are some of the other residents of "The Cloistures."
“The Curious Savage,” by John Patrick, is the warm-hearted tale of Mrs. Ethel Savage, a slightly eccentric, extremely wealthy widow. Being the recipient of her deceased husband’s estate, she wants to make the best use of it, despite her greedy stepchildren’s selfish attempts to get their hands on it. Mrs. Savage, however, has put her wealth into negotiable bonds in the hopes of establishing a fund to help others realize their hopes and dreams, much to the siblings’ chagrin. They then commit her to a “sanitorium” in the hopes of shocking her to her senses. There she meets a variety of social misfits, all needing exactly the kind of help Mrs. Savage can provide and who eventually appear more sane that those outside the walls of the institution. These wonderful individuals run the gamut of characterization possibilities, and immediately endear themselves to Mrs. Savage (and to the audience as well). With the help of her new-found friends, Mrs. Savage leads her stepchildren on a merry chase which eventually brings them to the pits of humiliation and despair even as Mrs. Savage obtains her freedom. The dominant mood is comedy with plots, plans, and hi-jinx, however the philosophy is far from laughable. The audience is left with a feeling that the neglected virtues of kindness and affection have not been entirely lost in a world that seems motivated at times only by greed and dishonesty.!
Here are the stepchildren, Lilly Belle, Titus and Samuel Savage.
I was so proud of these students tonight. They did such a good job, and provided a wonderful evening of entertainment. I saw them in rehearsal about 3 weeks ago, and they have come so far. PKR was very proud of them. Reaction from the audience was very positive.
In case you want to come and see, there will be performances Friday and Saturday night, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, and Monday night, Nov. 5.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kudos to PKR! Thanks for the report, and I wish I could be there.

Christy Woolum said...

Thanks for posting the great pictures. I wish I could have been there also.

Go Figure said...

PKR obviously hit the ground running! Congrats.