The cast of “Crazytown” assembles with some of their favorite props before last night’s final dress rehearsal.
by Jonathan Weaver
Opposite of the usual 6PM evening television newscast, Armstrong Junior High students have an alternative, wacky version for one night only.
Armstrong Junior High’s first stage performance tonight allows the 18-student cast to let loose during “Crazytown.”
Maddison Evans and Elizabeth Rosenberger – both seventh graders from Ford City – play “Babs Buttlebee” and “Penelope Pickles” and lead the audience through the hour-long WRONG Action News evening newscast.
Evans attended a Rimersburg school last year, but said the relationships she has fostered with Rosenberger and other cast members have made it an easy transition – helping her and Rosenberger ad-lib during the ‘newscast.’
“I’ve met a lot of my closest friends here – it’s just been a wonderful experience,” Evans said.
One of Evans’ new close friends is another part of the ‘news team.’
Jaesa Cornman, of Whitesburg, plays weather girl-turned-fill-in reporter “Doris Doppleflop.”
Cornman admitted she is nervous for the curtain to rise for her first production, but is used to being on stage due to her dance experience with Center Stage in Ford City.
She added that she’d rather spend time after school at rehearsals than anywhere else.
During the production, the trio helps spice up local crime, political and weather reports.
Some of that crime is allegedly performed at the hands of “good guy Sheldon Grimes,” played by eighth-grader Cameron Quinn.
Quinn, of Worthington, is making his stage debut in “Crazytown” and, like most of the cast, has four different roles during the production.
During the crime segment, Quinn is interrogated by two police detectives – played by Steven Wright and Kayley Ridinger.
Wright, an eighth grader from Ford City, is in his second year on stage after he got his start as an Oompa-Loompa during last year’s Ford City rendition of “Willy Wonka.”
Ridinger, of Kittanning – is up to tonight’s challenge despite many lines.
“This has been one of the best experiences ever. I’ve practically made all these people in the play my family,” Ridinger said.
Director Denise Gamble also directed Kittanning Junior High’s production of “In Search of the Dodo Bird” last year.
“As we left last year (at Kittanning Junior High), we said this is not the last play of Kittanning Junior High, but it’s a building stone for other places,” Gamble said. “I think as (the current cast) got together before Christmas it’s been just that because some of them do come from Kittanning Junior High, some come from Ford City and then the elementary schools.
“And you don’t even know that, because I think this school has been a tremendous combination of our communities. These (students) prove it.”
She praised the cast after last night’s final dress rehearsal.
“They have worked hard, memorized lots of script – they know how I feel about how they’ve done. It’s been a joy just to put in that extra time with them after school when everyone else is tired and wants to go home,” Gamble said.
Tonight’s show begins at 7PM in the high school auditorium. Tickets for students and adults are $5, while children five-years-old and younger receive free admission.
Maddison Evans and Elizabeth Rosenberger – both seventh graders from Ford City - anchor the hour-long WRONG evening news broadcast and will transition the audience through each segment. Tonight’s production begins at 7PM, with tickets on sale starting an hour earlier.