Director's Notes on Opening Act Theatre Company's Miraculous Happenings 2017-2018 season:
Welcome to our first full season in the new (unofficially named) Lana Miles Performing Arts Center!
This year is the first time in several years where the production choices came together quickly for me. I've been wanting to do Charlotte's Web for some time. Since it's a musical year for us, on our every other year rotation, I was thrilled to find out that the book turned movie and play, also was a musical.
About that same time, I was reading The Miracle Worker with my beginning acting classes, as I do every year. I've been asked every year if we can produce it. Surprisingly, I was not asked. I knew that meant it was time. Also, one student connected with the story being a student with blindness and was the perfect Helen. She agreed to do the role.
The alumni were in talks for what they would produce for their fifth annual show. I came across It's A Wonderful Life--A Live Radio Play, and suggested it. They loved it. It fit with the other two plays, and our season theme was solidified.
When we do our second annual Social Justice Festival, we already knew we would focus on students on the spectrum. In keeping with our continued goal of full inclusion in our department, each of our performances feature students who identify themselves as "other". They might have invisible illnesses, identified mental illness, or physical disabilities, or maybe identify with another gender than the one they were assigned. We welcome everyone in Roosevelt's Theatre Department, and we mean it.
I encourage you to purchase a Flex Pass at the Box Office to see all of the shows this year. With our Flex Pass, you can purchase a set of tickets to be used for any of the shows in combination. No matter what, you will be supporting students finding themselves by being someone else and behind-the-scenes learning valuable work and life experiences.
--Jo Director
"Educational Theatre Builds Character."
www.roosevelttheatre.org
Special Thanks to Portland'5 Centers for the Arts' Jen and Scott, Portland CenterStage Tim McGrady, Milwaukie HS, Madison HS, Gary LaPointe, Josh Larson, Shamus Lynsky, Terra Neal, Jodi Walters, and everyone else who pitched in!
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