SAMMY UCAN portrays a young person who has taken action in her community to make a difference, inspiring Kaylee (Frances Dickinson, on the couch) to do something in her part of her world. Carol Birdsell’s students painted the backdrops, “taking text from the song and using their imagination to bring it to life,” their teacher said. The backdrops are two sided, showing natural beauty on one side but, when turned, depicting the same scene after humans have abused it.
SAMMY UCAN portrays a young person who has taken action in her community to make a difference, inspiring Kaylee (Frances Dickinson, on the couch) to do something in her part of her world. Carol Birdsell’s students painted the backdrops, “taking text from the song and using their imagination to bring it to life,” their teacher said. The backdrops are two sided, showing natural beauty on one side but, when turned, depicting the same scene after humans have abused it.
The Hood River Middle School Performing Arts Department presents the new musical “Close To Home” by Mark Steighner, with final performances March 4 and 5 at 7 p.m. and March 5 at 2 p.m. at HRMS auditorium.
Through the eyes of protagonist Kaylee Henderson, “Close To Home” unravels a story of a young, motherless girl seeking to make a difference in the world around her. Disturbed by the effects of Pender Plastics on the local environment, Kaylee begins a journey to save the nearby lake and sasquatches. However, she soon discovers that “saving the planet is a lot harder” than she thought. It’s only when Kaylee searches for a cause close to home that her momentum for change begins.
Director Rebecca Nederhiser writes in the program, “From the moment I starting ordering Bigfoot costumes and accessories off of Amazon, I knew this musical would be an adventure! Through the journey, I have been grateful for the support of so many members within our community, both on and off stage.” She called Steighner’s creation “an enchanting and creative musical.” This is the fourth such collaboration between Nederhiser and Steighner, who retired in 2015 after 35 years as musical director at Hood River Valley High School.
“Close to Home” is the second musical Steighner wrote for this year’s production. The first one is called Miss Agatha’s Murder Mystery Camp for Boys and Girls, but Steighner writes in the program, “I realized when it was almost done that it didn’t have much of a message. It was just kind of strange and silly. Well, so is ‘Close to Home,’ but it has a theme, which is: do what you can, in some small way, to make the world a little better. Believe in yourself and don’t worry whether people ‘get you’ or not. Oh, and I’ve been wanting to write Bigfoot into a musical for a long time!”
The four kid activists within the story are based on real students that did change the world in the ways noted in the story, according to Steighner.
Carol Birdsell’s literature students also collaborated on the musical. Birdsell wrote, “In our Core Reading class, the students were learning the definition of citizenship as it relates to community. We studied words and phrases such as popular sovereignty, adjudicate, and conscientious. As part of our unit, we also read the article, ‘What it Means to be a Cultural Citizen,’ by Yo-Yo Ma, and looked at works of art from Diego Rivera, Keith Haring, and the Gorilla Girls. We watched the dance troupe Mix’t Ingredients and read together ‘Artists Around the Country Won’t Back Down For Ferguson.’” (Huffington Post, Dec. 5, 2014.)
She continues, “My students and I became intrigued with the idea that art can send a powerful message. With the help of artist Marlowe Griffin Lyddon, we found our voices in collage and writing.”
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