THE SUN'LL COME OUT......by Barbara Biddison
That's Annie, but "tomorrow" is always worth thinking about as Shakespeare did in "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day" all the way to that "the sun'll come out tomorrow" for our young orphan girl.

As I write, the sun is shining here in Wellsboro, which reminded me that I haven't blogged about the orphan in Annie. I saw the show last Friday in Mansfield's Straughn, and it was a wonderful production. That large auditorium was full. I don't know the size of the audiences for the other four performances, but I'm guessing there was a packed house for each one. A large cast like this and a popular show usually combine to fill the audience seats.

The combination of a diverse cast and a familiar show title gets the audience. This cast has a lotta kids, mostly playing orphans, and many familiar faces as well as new adults never before seen on the HG stage. I counted names on the program, I got 53 I think, and that does not include the production crew of 18. Jessie Thompson directed, Taylor Nickerson (First Position Dance Studio) was Choreographer. Naomi Gehman was Dance Captain and Thomas Putnam was Musical Director. And Sylvia Duterte played the title role of Annie! Oh my! And let us not forget the dog. Annie has to have a dog. This stage dog was extraordinary! Oh, what a well-behaved real dog.

For a show like this we have to remember that the Mansfield stage is available only for the last few rehearsals and for the show itself. So, all of this has been rehearsed in Wellsboro and then transported to Mansfield where everyone must get used to a whole new physical surrounding. In my past acting career with HG, I had that experience once for a musical, and I have great respect for those actors and techies who do so in what seems to be such a smooth transition! 

TO SING AMERICA IN ANOTHER LAND by Barbara Biddison

They flew across the ocean to land in Yorkshire, England, these young singers in the HG Treble Choir. And, of course, they were accompanied by some parents and a few other adults as well as the director, Thomas Putnam. They left on a Wednesday and returned the following Wednesday. All the reports from kids as well as adults revealed their joy in singing for these audiences and their personal growth as they sang in another land. It was clearly an experience with memories to last a lifetime. The reports suggest that they sang everywhere they went---churches, and schools, and museums, and castles and parks, and in the streets. The adults came back with happy memories as well. I'm loving hearing and reading about it everywhere!!!! And, yes, reading about it in joyful detail in our local newspaper.

Less than two weeks after their return to the States they were in concert again in Wellsboro, sharing their songs and their talent with the local folk. The Methodist Church generously provided the space for the Treble Choir amid the added delights as well: The Brothers and the HG Choir Too. I could have sat happily on that church bench for hours more. 

By the way, there is something, a learning experience, that Putnam often has the singers do that I appreciate. He has individual choir singers write in their own words and read aloud a sentence or 2 or 3 that gives the title and composer and perhaps subject matter of the song they are about to sung and we are about to hear. A great idea.

This concert included two groups that did not travel to England----groups that I love to see and hear. HG Choir Too, about 9 or 10 of them, sang a few very appropriate-for-that-age pieces with great enthusiasm and attention to director. And The Brothers who achieved their rightful fame in JOSEPH concluded their bit with YOU RAISE ME UP. Oh yes...

It was a rich and full afternoon, and we are so fortunate to have such music with us.

ONE COUNTRY : MANY VOICES...or MANY VOICES : ONE COUNTRY by Barbara Biddison

The printed program on October 6 would have it both ways.  In any case the TREBLE CHOIR was joined by the younger ones called CHOIR TOO and the older guys who were the brothers in JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT.   All featuring "uniquely American music."  What a wonderfully diverse concert!  I did not want it to be over.  Thomas Putnam has created an extraordinary environment for singing.  For kids singing under the encouraging direction of Laureen Wolgemuth.  And for young adults singing under Thomas's direction. St. Paul's was nearly full with people related to the singers, of course—but I saw a goodly number, like us, who just enjoy hearing all these people sing.

Next spring audiences across the ocean will hear them sing, too!  They will be traveling to Yorkshire, England.  To help fund the trip they are selling poinsettias as the Christmas holidays approach,  (I like to present them as gifts.) And coffee and baked potatoes,  and for anyone who doesn't need any flowers or coffee or potatoes, there's always the opportunity to just contribute and write a check. ​

There are openings in both HG choirs grades 2-8!!  I always remember my own high school  choir experiences when the HG choirs sing and travel and enter foreign countries.  I'm sure their memories will last as long as mine have.  I lived in South Texas so our "foreign travel" was into Mexico and not across any ocean, but I suspect that the feeling is much the same.

Speaking of foreign countries, HG just returned from our annual trip to Ontario, where we experienced three shows in the world-famous Stratford Festival. And in December we travel to the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. HG is truly alive at home and abroad! Join us!

A SNEAK-PEEK AT "PUFFS" IN FULL REHEARSAL by Barbara Biddison

I sat there in the Warehouse Theatre watching this story unfold. It is fascinating and attention-holding.  It will appear for public audiences beginning August 8 and ending August 11 for a total of five shows in the Warehouse Theatre, so we need to plan to attend right away.   As far as I could tell there are probably twelve actors in the cast who take on the character of many, many more individuals. I quickly learned to plug in and just go along for the ride.  That works!!

I was not familiar with this play called PUFFS.  Turns out that was fine. The "beginner wizard' was told to "use the training wand"  and that seemed perfectly logical to me, so I did not spend any time
pondering what a training wand might be like.  I think you just have to enter this magical world, and that turns out to be the way. This is a fast-moving show, and it runs about 110 minutes with no
intermission.

I stayed in the theatre after the show to hear what director Cody Losinger had to say to the cast.  I was impressed! He was clear and specific and friendly as he offered corrections, embellishments or suggestions to individuals.  Cast members responded--almost always already knowing where a correction was in order, or an emphasis was needed.  That relationship was really nice, and I especially liked how actors felt free to respond when they knew that they had "goofed" and already knew what they had to do to fix it.  A "good feel" in that room for a good play.

ARTS FOR ALL THE AGES by Barbara Biddison

Hamilton-Gibson has always been all-inclusive. This June 2024 has been a true example of
that. In the Warehouse Theatre I saw a dress rehearsal of Once Upon a Crime in mid-June, and
less than two weeks later I saw in Whitneyville the Theater Arts Camp show for Kids.. In
one the cast was made up of the very young, and the over-50s, and all ages in between---- and
in the other it was "all kids"!! But that's not all there is to putting on a play. Everybody knows
there's got to be a director, and for these two that would be Himmelberger for the Warehouse
event and Putnam for Whitneyville kids in "Perchance to Dream." And we do need more than a
director to pull it all together.

In "Dream" we saw the work of interns for music and dance, staff of ages from teens to the older
folk, presenters during camp "dream" focus, and so many more who held the whole thing
together. And for the regular "fairy-tale courtroom play" there were the "official" crew
members to handle lights, and sound, and costumes, and backstage and publicity, and posters.
Different needs for different kinds of shows and different venues as well as for different kinds of
performers.

In both, Once Upon a Crime and “Perchance to Dream”, there are vocal and body-movement
skills to be learned and become familiar with. There's a lot more dance-type movement in the
kids camp show, and there's a lot more "character-posturing" movement for Once Upon a
Crime.
​
I love it when the program tells you (Once Upon a Crime) that thanks go to a real judge for the
loan of a real gavel.... and (“Perchance to Dream”). that one of the presenters brought
information on "Dreamcatchers."
I offer this blog as just some evidence of the kind of variety that Hamilton-Gibson has provided
for over 30 years now. It truly is community theater,