The Musical Theatre Club at UNBC is tuning up for its annual production.
The curtain is just rising on the new university year, and the club is calling for lovers and appreciators of musicals to get involved right away, since it takes until May to prepare their shows. The production this year will be Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which has never been performed in Prince George before.
The club has a strong leadership core with several past productions to their credit. The play's director is Veronica Church, now a veteran of the local stage scene. Jenny Lind is the stage manager, Maddie Corbett is the props master, and the musical director is Rylee Spencer. They are acutely aware they need a lot of help from the student body.
"It's required that most of the cast and crew be students, especially in the lead characters, but w have also been able to include CNC students and talent from the general public in past shows, which comes with its own benefits, like community outreach and bringing their knowledge in for our benefit," said Lind.
"It helps that we don't struggle as much anymore to get people coming to us who are interested in things like sound and lighting and costumes," said Church. "We've been around long enough that the word is out there a little bit and people know they can join us with those interests."
They are even starting to talk about the possibility of one day soon forming a separate club for the stagecraft elements of what they do.
Like most university interest groups, the Musical Theatre Club is operating an information table during the introductory week of the fall semester. They hope their choice of play will draw in interest, since it's a comedy, it was a popular movie, but it is fresh in the sense of not being one of the oft-performed Broadway plays that cycle past audiences time and again.
"We put a lot of work into picking this one," said Church. "We went through lists of Tony Awards, we looked for the hits, we looked for good songs. We have a lot of singing talent in the club so we wanted to showcase that."
After doing speedy, verbally complex Stephen Sondheim lyrics for their most recent performance (Into The Woods), they wanted to change it up to something more smooth and accessible.
"I love Sondheim, of course, but this is such a great score, I just love the music, and we will have a different approach to the vocals with this production," said Spencer.
"It's just so much fun. The actors will have a great time making it, the audience will have a great time watching it," said Lind. "I'm really excited for the ensemble, that's a real strength of this production."
There are three lead females and three lead males, which essentially means there are six supporting actors and no real lead at all. The work is dispersed, not piled on one or two actors.
"It's already a big time commitment for a student, five hours a week of rehearsal time," said Lind.
"Plus the memorization work you have to do on your own," said Spencer. "It asks a lot of a student, but when you're dedicated and organized - and we are - it comes out well."
They are making a change this year in the performance venue. After trying the Prince George Playhouse and the UNBC Canfor Theatre in the past, they approached the city's professional theatre company to see if that location could be used, but also tap into the pro skills on staff there.
"Jack (Grinhaus, TNW's artistic director) was on board with us, and he has been so incredibly helpful, we are so grateful," said Lind.
"They have been a joy to work with. It's going to really pay off for the growth of the club," said Spencer.
The dates of the performances are March 8-10 and 15-17.
Auditions will be held soon, and a rehearsal schedule provided to those selected for cast and crew. For details continue to watch the club's Facebook page (UNBC Musical Productions) for notifications.
