The Ouachita Theatre Arts Department will present the children’s show Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. as its first production of the 2011-2012 season. Performances will be held in Verser Theater Sept. 22-24 and 26-27 at 7 p.m. with a matinee performance Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 each.
The stage version of the Emmy Award-winning Saturday morning cartoon series follows a young teacher named Tom who nervously anticipates his first day in the classroom. When he turns on his TV for a few minutes, he is swept away by a flood of his own “Schoolhouse Rock” memories. Tom says, “In all my years of serious training to be a teacher, they forgot one important thing … that learning should be fun.”
“I’m thrilled that we have the opportunity to bring the fun-filled, exciting and educational experience of Schoolhouse Rock to a new generation,” said associate professor of theatre arts Mary Handiboe, who is directing the production. “I’m also excited that my generation will have an opportunity to revisit the music that made learning so much fun in the 70s.”
Handiboe has been involved with nearly 60 productions at Ouachita as an actor, director, designer or faculty mentor. Mary Worthen, assistant professor emerita of music, will partner with Handiboe to serve as music director for Schoolhouse Rock.
A free show will be performed for Peake Elementary students on the mornings of Thursday, Sept. 22, and Friday, Sept. 23.
“I feel they will definitely enjoy it,” said Heather White, a junior musical theatre major from Houston, Texas, who plays Dori in the play. “Even if the children we perform for have never heard [the songs], they will immediately love the energy behind them.”
Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. was originally conceived and directed by Scott Ferguson in Chicago. The book is also by Ferguson along with Kyle Hall and George Keating.
Tickets may be purchased at the Jones Performing Arts Center Box Office weekdays from 1-5 p.m. and one hour before show times. Tickets may also be purchased with credit card by phone or online at www.obu.edu/boxoffice.
Each current Ouachita student may receive one free ticket to the show by presenting his or her ID card at the box office.
Picture by Kristen Barnard.
