JAY — Spruce Mountain High School will perform the high-energy musical The Lightening Thief on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 1 and 2, on the SMHS stage.

The Lightening Thief is based on the popular young adult novel of the same name and uses a creative set, costumes and lighting to bring Percy Jackson’s adventures to life. Jackson is a 12-year-old boy who newly discovers that he is a demigod and goes on a quest to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war between the Greek gods, according to Wikipedia.

Students have been rehearsing the show since October and the Spruce Mountain tech theater class has been working on set and monster building, props and costumes since the start of the school year, Kymberly Bryant, technology teacher wrote in a recent email.

“This year we are delighted to have a large group of young students excited to do tech for the show, as well as underclassmen taking on some major roles,” she noted. “Upperclassmen have taken on even more challenging roles with some singing solos for the first time in a musical.”

Olivia Mancine, a sophomore who played an urchin in last year’s production of Little Shop of Horrors will portray Jackson, Bryant indicated. “Senior Faith Maurais will play Annabeth, freshman Cohen Pelkey will play Percy’s best friend Grover,” she noted.  “First time participant sophomore Nathalie Baker plays three key roles in the show and junior Ricky Bowen will play Luke.  Rounding out the main roles are Elie Patoy and Gabby Smith playing both monsters and teachers.”

Bryant said those involved with planning were looking for “a fun and upbeat musical that allowed for a flexible size cast and roles that could be played by a variety of different students. The Lightening Thief can be done with as little as seven students up to as many as we can get.  Most students have several roles in the show.”

Music teacher Dan Labonte returns as musical director for the show which is modern rock/pop in style with a little bit of funk, Bryant wrote. “Dan Latham, the new industrial arts teacher at the high school has been co-teaching tech theater with me and has helped to build the set and some of the technical costumes,” she noted. “Amanda Pelkey helped to make the satyr pants for the show.”

All costumes for this production are new, Bryant wrote. “Because we had to give up our costume storage to a classroom, our costumes are pretty inaccessible,” she explained. “It makes it very difficult to find items readily available. Most of the costumes are contemporary clothing, so that part was easy. But there are monsters and Gods that required the tech theater class to build specific costumes for the show, like a minotaur, a satyr, furies and a centaur.”

This year’s show is pretty tech heavy, with some elaborate lights, projections and sound effects, Bryant wrote. “We have new LED roaming spotlights for the stage as well as a new high-output projector we were able to get through a grant,” she noted. “These new technical elements give us a much more exciting production. Senior Alex Ladd has been working hard programming the lights and Sophia Steward is working the projector. Carley Greenleaf is working the sound. Our stage manager Megan Craig and assistant stage manager Mason Labonte keep everything rolling.”

The musical lasts about two hours. Refreshments will be sold during a 15 minute intermission, but as of press time Bryant wasn’t sure what group would be supported.

There will be three performances: Friday and Saturday evenings, Dec. 1 and 2, at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Tickets [$12 for adults, $8 for students/seniors] are available online at https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/spruce-mountain-high-school-theater or can be purchased at the door [limited seating available].

 

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