The 2006-2007 C.A.S.T. Season

Hello, all. I hope that you're enjoying a safe and pleasant summer. I just thought it would be good to update you all on where we stand for our upcoming season...

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

"Corcoran 40th Birthday" - Our first project of the year is a unique one this time around. While we've been holding a musical revue at the end of September the past couple of years, the special nature of this fall is necessitating a temporary change. This fall, on Columbus Day weekend, Corcoran will be celebrating its 40th birthday; there are a number of events that are in the works, quite likely including a couple of performance opportunities. What that means is that I'll need to be able to focus on helping out with those special events (as will Ms. Scheuerman). So, we're going to look at the 40th birthday events as our first project as some other groups in the school are doing (as well as plenty of alumni and former staff), and we invite you to join us! We don't know exactly what form the events will take yet, but we're pretty sure there will be opportunities to participate in some form or another - come check in early in the school year for more information.

"Fools" auditions and rehearsals begin - Our fall play this year will be the Neil Simon comedy "Fools", about a remote village cursed with chronic stupidity and one young teacher's efforts to break the curse. Look for auditions for the play to take place sometime around the last two weeks in September, with rehearsals throughout October. Don't fret if you're in a fall sport - we've been able to work things out before (even for "big" sports).

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER

Annual Shakespeare monologue competition preparations - Each year in January, we conduct our annual Shakespeare monologue competition, in which participants perform a memorized Shakespearean monologue of their choice for a panel of judges, who critique and score the performances. The competition is open to any student, and there are prizes for the top finishers; additionally, the student in grades 10-12 to finish highest in the competition advances to the regional competition in the spring at Syracuse Stage with the winners from all other area schools, vying for the chance to represent central New York at the national competition. While our actual competition at Corcoran isn't until January, it takes time to memorize a monologue and then to prepare it for performance, so you'll want to stop down to get more information sometime in the fall, and plan to have it memorized and work with a coach (Mr. H, or any other English teacher you choose to ask) on it then.

"Fools" fall play - Our fall production of "Fools" will take place on December 2nd and 3rd, with rehearsals naturally continuing during November up to that point.

Spring Musical auditions - We are still working on just what it will be (ideas, suggestions, or thoughts? I am interested to hear them - email me!), but no matter what it is, auditions will be the first full week of December, so that a cast list can be posted before the New Year's break (and potentially a few rehearsals snuck in before the break to get everyone working on music on their own)

JANUARY / FEBRUARY / MARCH

Annual Shakespearean Monologue Competition - see above. Our actual competition will be sometime during the middle of January, so it's important to have already been working on your monologue during the fall. The regional competition will be in March, and it's open to the public and always a good way to both cheer on our representative and get to see a few dozen exceptional performers from other schools - specific dates will be posted once we have them.

"Short Attention Span Theatre" - Our annual workshop evening for short one-act plays gives anyone the chance to put on any short piece they like. Students cast, plan, direct, and perform the pieces entirely on their own. Participants in the IB Theatre Arts and Drama I/II classes are already automatically involved, but anyone else is welcome to prepare and include a piece prepared on their own - get in touch during the fall for more details and to make plans.

Spring Musical - As stated above, we're still not sure what it is yet, but the cast we set in December will rehearse regularly during January and February in preparations for a March production date. Note: after a lot of hard work with schedules, we believe we've finally got dates that will allow spring sport people (Lacrosse, Softball, etc.) to participate and not be penalized by their coaches - but it means having the show quite a bit earlier than we have in the past. We can do it - it will just take some concentrated work on all our parts.

APRIL / MAY

Interactive Murder Mystery - Auditions will be held shortly after the spring musical is over for this final production of the year, again held on Memorial Day weekend, and featuring "senior night" on its closing night for an opportunity to recognize and say goodbye to our senior theatre participants. While things can still change this early out, we're preliminarily hoping to use a new script currently being written as a collaboration between both of the authors who have donated scripts to us for our past few years of murder mysteries.

Announcement Possibly Coming Soon

Watch this post during the coming week for information regarding next spring's musical.

While we usually have the musical for the next season announced before the summer, we ran into a stumbling block this year when we saw our intended show unexpectedly produced by our closest neighbor highschool. After some significant discussion, though, we might have a decision just in time to yet make the announcement before the summer break, so that those of you who wish to find a soundtrack and start listening and learning can do so over the summer.

Of course, in all honesty, it might yet go the other way too, and we might decide we need to wait the summer to make a decision. Either way, though, I will replace this post with our choice (either a title or confirmation that we are waiting the summer) sometime in the coming week.

- Mr. Hipius -

----- UPDATE: 06/18/06 -----

Yeah... soooo... it turned out we're going to have to take our time with this one after all. We thought we might have an idea there for awhile, but after a lot of thinking about it, I think it's wiser to make sure we're certain it's the best option first, as well as to make sure we have the extra resources lined up we need in order to make it work, should we decide to go that way. So, watch probably in the late summer approaching the new school year for some new information about the spring musical. We're still workin' on it... and, as before, I'm still very grateful for any and all suggestions you want to put forward for us to think about.

- Mr. H -

Another season in the books...

Well, the annual melancholy has officially set in for me... and it was only barely two hours ago that I was closing up for the night after the final performance of our final production of the 2005-2006 school year's theatre season.

It has been one very memorable year. Five solid productions, all with excellent audiences, all of which brought in the funds we needed to help get us back to solvency... the second solid year for our musical revue (you know what they say, one successful year means it's a good idea for a year, two mean it's a good practice for good)... one extremely memorable suspense thriller with a real all-star cast turning in performances that evoked those good old audible groans of amazement at the key moments... perhaps the most impressive showing (and one that CERTAINLY deserved a top recognition spot, IMHO) from Corcoran thus far at the Syracuse Stage Shakespeare Regional, delivered by Kim Farnett... the cathartic end of our several year long quest to produce Seussical, and executed with amazing flying colors... a fantastic benefit matinee performance (our first ever such attempt) that brought in a few hundred dollars for a very worthy cause (The Jenna Foundation)... a fantastic weekend run of the murder mystery that brought in two very large crowds and evoked a lot of happily entertained faces both nights... many new, talented friends joining us, including several very promising freshmen and sophomores... and, of course, a very reluctant farewell to twenty seven seniors who have been the heart and soul of our program for four years.

I'm really touched by the scrapbook that the murder mystery cast put together for me - it's probably the nicest thing I've been given since the beginning for me. If you'd like to see it, don't hesitate to ask - I'm planning on bringing it back into school to share.

It really is a tough pill to swallow, saying goodbye to so many important people every year as they move on to great, exciting things in the real world. I will miss all of you a great deal, and I wish you the best wherever you head off to. Please do stay in touch - I invite you to pop in and comment on the callboard here, for example. And if you're going to be in town this summer at least through the end of July, come have one last onstage fling with us putting together the summer show for Scene One at Appleseed Productions (in the valley)... our organizational meeting will be on June 17th at 5 PM at Appleseed, then we'll meet a couple times during the last week of June and first week of July, then rehearse daily for three weeks in July before putting up our original production on the last weekend in July. I hope I'll see some of you there for one last show!

... and if you're sticking around to go to college in town and have the time in your schedule, don't forget that I'd love to have you join us out at the theatre company during the regular season. I'll be directing the first show of the year, Playing Doctor (nostalgically, that play was the very first thing we did at Corcoran in your freshman year!)... auditions will be in mid-July (and there are definitely two roles for young women with apparent ages 18 - 25), and we'd always love to have the extra help on crew too. If you'd like a script to read in advance if you're thinking about it, ask me in school - I have some spare copies printed up I can let you take home.

For those of you coming back to Corcoran next year, start thinking about what you might like to sing or perform (any song or monologue or scene will do) for the performance showcase (Tales From Behind the Curtain III) in September... we only have three weeks once school begins to put the show together, so you'll want to have something picked and memorized (or at least close to memorized) when the year begins. Our fall play, by popular demand of both students and faculty, will be my favorite play: Fools by Neil Simon. If you haven't read it before and would like to do so, please ask me and I'd be happy to dig out a copy of the script for you to take home over the summer). The jury is still quite out on next year's musical (looks like Fowler inadvertantly took the wind out of my sails for the show I'd had in mind), so I'm still happy to field any suggestions that you have and add them to the list of possibilities, so do speak up if you've got any ideas.

It has been one fantastic and memorable year... as of tonight, we can now celebrate our fifth anniversary (we have just completed the fifth "season" since we reorganized the theatre program as C.A.S.T. and worked to expand it into something big and special)... thank you!

- Mr. Hipius -

Final Production...

This Friday and Saturday is our final production of the 2005-2006 season, the interactive murder mystery "Death Takes a Bow" by Mark Allen Holt, co-directed by Mr. Hipius and Lindsay Myers, starring Perry Crain, Kimberly Farnett, Abbey Lynn Harrington, Fred Hintz, and Robert Kraus, with understudies Shannon Murray and Shawn King. Come along and try to figure out who the killer is... prizes are awarded for the most accurate and most amusing guesses!

Performances will be 7 PM on both Friday, May 26th and Saturday, May 27th in the Corcoran High School cafeteria. Refreshments will be served at intermission. All tickets are just $5.00. Please note: the production is rated PG-13 due to adult sexual references.

As always, Saturday night is SENIOR NIGHT, and we will take a few quick minutes following the performance to recognize and "send off" all the seniors who have made a contribution to C.A.S.T. through the past four years. Seniors are offered FREE ADMISSION to that performance as our special guests.

Looking for ways to help us? We could certainly use a few more hands...

• If you're a PARENT or GUARDIAN, we are looking for donations of baked goods to add to the diversity of our intermission refreshment trays. If you can bake something, or find someone who will donate something, please drop it by on Friday afternoon at the school.
• If you're a STUDENT, we will need plenty of ushers to assist in setting up, serving, and breaking down. We need volunteers to stay through on Friday after school until the performance to help move chairs and materials into the cafeteria and set it up, volunteers to be present at least one hour before both performances to help put together the refreshment trays and then at intermission to serve them, and volunteers to stay after the end of the Saturday night performance to assist in setting everything back to normal and returning materials and chairs to the C wing.

Libretto policy

If you'd like to actually take one of the Seussical librettos, they are available. To do so, you must place a $25 deposit with us, either by cash or check.

• After the show (or whenever you are finished with your libretto), you may return it, in the same condition you got it (all marks erased completely), for a refund of your $25 or a return of your check (we won't even cash it if you return your libretto).
• If you already do not intend to return your script at the time you get it (if you are planning on viewing this as a $25 "purchase"), please let us know at this time, so we know we can deposit your cash or check.

See your assistant director Shawn if you'd like to get a libretto.

The Seussical Show Site is Up

The Seussical production website is now available, with details about the performances, and a link to the show poster. Sending out an email to friends and family with a link to this site is a great way to quickly and easily spread the word! The link is:

http://www.hipius.com/gjhipius/corcoran/cast/shows/Seussical2006/