| Joe Connelly (from left), with Terra Sloane, Gabrielle Coon, Thomas Long and Annie Valantine perform a scene from “Tales from Five Continents,” a production by the Horizon Youth Theatre on stage this weekend. (Photo: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune) |
The Horizon Youth Theatre has always been a troupe on the move.
Now in its 15th year it has staged productions and workshops wherever it could find
space, the library, couple different churches and in university theaters. Most
recently through its association with the Black Swamp Players it used the stage
at First United Methodist Church as its home.
For its latest show though it’ll tread the boards on its biggest stage yet, the
Bowling Green School District’s Performing Arts Center.
"Tales from Five Continents" will be staged Thursday, Friday and Saturday
at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and available in advance at Grounds for Thought, 174 S.
Main St., Bowling Green.
The plot has children showing up at a park after a big storm. There they discover
Noho the Spirit of Storytelling. That role will be played by guest Joe Connelly,
a friend of director Cassie Guion from the Bowling Green State University
Theatre Department.
Once in discussing the script, Connelly told Guion: "I’d love to play that
role."
Guion said she’s excited to have a chance to work with Connelly, who now lives in
Pittsburgh, again and to have the cast work with a young, but more experienced
actor.
The production uses more than 30 young actors and crew members.
Guion, who serves as the troupe’s managing director, said the script was instrumental
in her own involvement in theater. When she was in sixth grade she was stage
manager for a production at the Ashland Arts Center.
The vignette structure gives many actors a turn in the spotlight.
The tales included are:
• "Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky" from Africa.
• "The Raven and the Tide," a native American tale from North America
• "Why the Emperor Came to Call the Toad ‘Uncle’" from Asia
• "How the Beetle Got Its Beautiful Coat" from South America.
• "Why the Bat Flies Alone and at Night" from Europe.
Guion said being in the Performing Arts Center expands the troupe’s dramatic palette.
The set includes a five-level, 12-foot tall jungle gym. "We could not have built
this set in any other space we’ve been in," she said.
Guion first worked with Horizon in 2009. She learned about it in a directing class
with Sara Chambers who helped the troupe in the transitional period right after
its ties to the Bowling Green State University Department of Theatre were
severed.
Guion directed "Cinderella: The World’s Favorite Fairy Tale."
For Guion it was a great opportunity, This is what she wanted to do, and here was an
opportunity to do it in the community she lived in.
Many of the students from that first production are now moving to high school. That
means bringing in a coterie of younger actors to take their place.
About a third of the "Takes from Five Continents" cast are new to Horizon.
Guion said the monthly drama club, 90-minute workshops on specific theatrical skills
and themes, has help bring new faces to the company. The shows and workshop are
all part of Horizon’s mission to give young thespians an outlet for their
dramatic talents.
Online:
http://horizonyouththeatre.wordpress.com/
