Starting on Thursday night at 7:30 and showing nightly until Saturday will be St. Patricks High School annual Christmas drama production. This year the school will be putting on the classic story of A Christmas Carol.
From NACC:
A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens, demonstrates the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge, who on Christmas Eve, seven years after the death of his business partner Jacob Marley, is challenged to change his ways by the Ghost of Jacob Marley and three Christmas Spirits:the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
The thing which makes this production so special is the fact that it is completely student run. Brandon Erasmus will be directing this show with the assistance of Jacqueline Brasseur as well as an all student technical crew. I was able to talk to Jacqueline through Facebook and here is what she had to say about the show:
Q. How did 2 students come to direct this years SPHS Drama Production?
A. Well, usually St. Patrick’s High School Drama Department does two shows a year. We usually have a One-Act Festival, as well our school production. The One-Act is always rehearsed during the day in the drama 10/20/30 class, and the school production is done completely on it’s own after school and on weekends. The One-Act Festival has always been full of one-act plays that are directed by students, so I think that’s why Mrs. Maltby was open to inviting Brandon Erasmus to direct this year’s production that is in the place of the One-Act Festival. As soon as Brandon was chosen to direct, Mrs. Maltby invited me to help him out as stage manager and assistant director.
Q. Do you think having it a show run fully by students will benefit its outcome?
A. I think that having the show run completely by students will benefit it’s outcome in so many ways. I think that the people in the community will see how much work was put into this, and how it’s something completely new to the theatre world in Yellowknife. The fact that students can put on something like this will surely impress a lot of people around town. It may not be the best show you’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely a feat to organize a show when everybody in the process is such a young age, and so new to the world of theatre, like Brandon and I are. Because Mrs. Maltby has given us so many opportunities to be such a big part of theatre in our school, I think that more students will want to be a part of the drama program, and I can’t wait to see how amazing the drama program at the school becomes next year.
Q. Why did you decided to take such a big roll in the production?
A. I’ve been interested in drama since I was a kid. Acting has been something I’ve wanted to do since I was little. I had the chance to direct a One-Act Play last year in the One-Act Festival because a part of the Drama 30 curriculum is to direct something. I had a great time, and really just wanted to experience something bigger and better. I knew the moment this was offered to me that it would be an amazing learning experience. I’m absolutely horrified for production week, but at the same time, I can’t wait to learn new things, and have a chance to show that us St. Pat’s students can do just about anything we set our mind to.
Brandon says: “It’s a funny story. What really got me into directing was last year, during the One-Act Festival, I had the worst dress rehearsal of all time. It was horrible. Only one actor was decent. After the worst dress rehearsal of all time, I went home, and Jacqueline told me that I was a much better director than actor, and that’s when I gave up acting, and started wanting to direct.”
Q. How did the selection of this years show, A Christmas Carol, come about?
A. Brandon chose the play. He wanted to choose something that people were familiar with. Because we’re putting on a production with students from a class that a lot of kids take solely because they have to get a fine arts credit, Brandon chose something that wouldn’t be too big of a challenge. However, I really think that with the motivation everybody has gotten since we’ve started, we could’ve put on something more challenging. Everybody in the class has done an extraordinary job getting excited about the production, even those who haven’t ever acted before.
Q. Do you think the fact there is a remake currently in theatres of A Christmas Carol it will affect the turn out for the show and people expectations.
A. I believe that if anything, it will bring us a larger audience. It’s funny because last time Brandon directed, he was helping direct a Batman Musical play at his school in Vancouver, and as soon as they got the show on it’s feet, the movie came out. He was telling me earlier about how it seems like every time he directs something, they make a movie for it. Brandon believes that people are going to have really high expectations for the production because of the movie, but this is a high school production, and many students’ first time acting. I think that although people may have high expectations, they’ll be impressed by the talent of many of our newly found actors.
Q. What can Yellowknifers expect from the show this year, will there be any surprises?
A. If anything, Yellowknifers aren’t going to expect the costumes at all. They’re different, and many actors take on a different character than the one’s Dickens wrote about. So many actors have made their character their own, which is really what we wanted them to do to begin with. All the students have done a beautiful job at making this production one of a kind.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to say about this years show?
A. All I really want to put out there is that without Mrs. Maltby, none of this could have happened. Marianne Maltby is constantly under appreciated, and constantly disrespected, but she puts so much effort into the students. She tries so hard to make sure that all the students are having a good time, and are enjoying theatre as much as they can. Her classes are so often not taken seriously due to the lack of value put on drama in our school, and really, she takes every single one of her students seriously and wants to be the best she can be for them. She is a wonderful teacher, a beautiful actress, a magnificent director, and a extremely kind human being.
Thanks Jacqueline, can’t wait to see the show.
Details
- What: SPHS Production of A Christmas Carol
- Where: NACC, behind Sir John High School
- When: November 19,20,21 at 7:30pm each night.
- Tickets: $12 – Available at NACC.ca
I hope to make it to one of the show, so I will see you there.
Sugar were going down, oh wait wrong industry. Anyways the St. Pats Drama Department is back at it again with another well known play, Sugar.
