Town & Gown Summer Shows at Fort

Fairmont State University's Town & Gown Summer Theatre 2008 season features two shows at the Prickett's Fort State Park Amphitheatre: "Once on This Island, Jr." and "1776."

"Once on This Island, Jr." will be performed at 8 p.m. June 13-15 and 19-21. Tickets are available from the FSU Box Office at (304) 367-4240. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission, $8 for seniors and $6 for students with ID.

Performances of "1776" will be offered at 8 p.m. July 4-6 and 9-13. Tickets are available from the FSU Box Office at (304) 367-4240. Ticket prices are $12 for general admission, $10 for seniors and $8 for students with ID. Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more.

"Once on This Island, Jr."

Part of the Broadway Junior Collection, the play's book and lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens; music is by Stephen Flaherty. Based upon the novel "My Love, My Love" by Rosa Guy, it was originally directed and choreographed on Broadway by Gracielka Daniele, Music Theatre International.

The director is Dr. Francene Kirk; music director is Dr. Valarie Huffman; choreographer is Charlie Dillon; and vocal coach is Greg Lauer. Cast members include the following: Amy Frosch (Little Girl); Madison Moyer (Storyteller 1); Tyler Kovar (Storyteller 2); Shannon Yost (Storyteller 3); Gatsby Rider (Storyteller 4); Isabella Angeline Diserio (Little Ti Moune); Brie Graziani (Mama Erualie); James Wilson (Tonton Julian); Jenny Bundy (Ti Moune); Logan Demyon (Daniel Beauxhomme); Christopher Yost (Daniel's son); Daniel Jackson McNeil (gatekeeper); Michael Miller (Daniel's father); Simone Cameon (Andrea); Clayton Dunn (Papa Ge); Kelsey Corder (Asaka); Brady Dunn (Agwe); Amanda Towns; and Nora Perone (Erzulie), among numerous others.

In the opening, the peasants describe their world. Their lives are ruled by powerful gods and their island is ruled by the wealthy "grand hommes." They explain that the peasants and the grand hommes comprise two different worlds, never meant to meet.

In "One Small Life," the peasants begin the tale of Ti Moune who fell in love with a grand homme after being "chosen by the gods for a magical fate." They describe how she was saved from a flood by the gods when she was a child and raised by loving adoptive parents. She grows up during the number.

Working in the fields, Ti Moune sees a grand homme and decides that one day he will take her off to a new, brighter life. And the gods bring her a chance at a new life. A night of rain, brought by the Water God, Agwe, causes Daniel (the grand homme) to crash and allows Ti Moune to find him. She nurses him back to health and, restored, Daniel and Ti Moune go to a ball at the Hotel Beauxhommes. There, Ti Moune's dancing beguiles the guests, and Andrea asks Ti Moune to dance at her wedding--to Daniel. The two have been promised to one another since childhood.

Papa Ge gives Ti Moune a choice: kill Daniel (for which he has provided a knife) and resume her previous life or face death herself, desolate after the betrayal by Daniel. Thrown out of the hotel, Ti Moune collapses on the earth where she will soon be buried.

The gods cry and their tears of compassion resurrect Ti Moune from the earth as a beautiful tree, sheltering peasants and grands hommes alike. The play closes with the storytellers again around the fire, beginning to tell their tale to the small girl who has joined them.

"1776"

Even now, 39 years after the first performance of the play, audiences will be drawn to the characters of the founding fathers. The musical is certainly about the momentous year 1776 and its dramatic politics, but it is also about the relationships of the signers, their frictions and their harmonies, fragments of their private and public lives, and it allows audience members to have a glimpse of the personalities behind the familiar names.

Town & Gown cast members for "1776" are Jim Matthews (John Hancock); Michael Woods (Dr. Josiah Bartlett); Troy Snyder (John Adams); Matt Scanlon (Stephen Hopkins); Shawn Dunn (Roger Sherman); Joe Riesen (Lewis Morris); Roger Banks (Rev. John Witherspoon); John Fallon (Benjamin Franklin); John O'Connor (John Dickenson); Anthony Host (James Wilson); Bruce McGlumpky (Caesar Rodney); Jeremy S. Crawford (Col. Thomas McKean); John Piscitelli (Samuel Chase); Christian Cox (Richard Henry Lee); Daniel Crowley (Thomas Jefferson); Don Trisel (Joseph Hewes); Marc Cornes (Edward Rutledge); Jonathan Shay (Dr. Lyman Hall); Michael Vozniak (Charles Thomson); Virgil Rogers (Andrew McNair); Linda O'Connor (Abigail Adams); Loralee Simpson (Martha Jefferson); and James Clegg (a courier).

The play opened on Broadway on March 16, 1969, at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre) and closed on February 13, 1972, after 1,217 performances. During its run, "1776" played in three different theatres.

The show was nominated for five Tony Awards in 1969 and won three: Best Musical; Best Featured Actor in a musical (for Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee) and Best Direction of a Musical. It also won the 1969 Theatre World Award and two Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Book and Outstanding Costume Design. Peter Stone wrote the book and the music and lyrics were by Sherman Edwards. Peter H. Hunt directed the original Broadway production.

There are departures from the actual historical events, as poetic license allows, but the play remains true to the spirit of the characters and the majority of debates and decisions that culminated in the Declaration of Independence.