23

TAKING
THE
STAGE
H
omecoming weekend was full of familiar faces, long-awaited reunions
and celebrations of Hardings heritage. The Bison football team
hosted the Henderson State University Reddies, while the Benson
Auditorium stage hosted orphaned pirates, the daughters of a modern
major general and a master of divinity.
The Music and Theatre Departments presented Pirates!?! A Pillaging of
Gilbert & Sullivan as the annual Homecoming musical, directed by Robin
Miller, chair of the Department of Theatre, and produced by Producer of
Theatre Cindee Stockstill. Miller asked Professor of English Dr. Michael
Claxton and 2011 alumnus Jordan Dollins to reimagine the well-known
musical Pirates of Penzance. According to Claxton, the request was an
honor, and the task was important to a successful production.
Gilbert and Sullivans original play is brilliant as it is, but it is also almost
140 years old, Claxton said. The script is loaded with language that is
unfamiliar today, as well as references that were aimed at a contemporary
crowd. We wanted to modernize some of the language.
Sophomore James Morgan, junior Tayler Robinson and junior Brittany
Stewart played lead roles in the Homecoming musical, the Pirate King,
Ruth and Mabel respectively. Never having performed in a major Harding
production before, these three actors had to step up to a bar that was
set very high. Morgan knew his lead role would help set the tone for the
production.
I realized that one persons attitude can affect any number of people,
Morgan said. Being in the position I was in, eyes were automatically on
me most of the time. However, the mood of rehearsals was very reliant
on every persons decision to be happy, have good energy and encompass
a good attitude.
With a limited background in high school and summer theater, Morgan
was honored to have a lead role in a production specifically written and
designed for the Harding community.
I was also very humbled by the fact that I was in such a new territory,
Morgan said. This was a much bigger stage than I had ever been on, and I
was grateful for the opportunity. Dr. Claxton and Jordan Dollins sold me on
the operetta itself. It was a very fun comedic play, and it had great music.
They made the show a lot more memorable.
Robinson, an art major, played the lead role of Ruth in the musical.
Though Robinson did not originally intend to try out for the musical, her
two music major roommates encouraged her to audition. To her surprise,
Robinson received the role and felt blessed to be included in the Pirates cast.
Claxton added that he was honored to work with the talented staff that
persevered through late nights and was creative with the material.
Working with the cast was one of the most gratifying parts of the whole
process for me, Claxton said. At every rehearsal, I got more and more
excited about the show as I watched the wonderfully creative things the
cast was doing. And for a theater novice like me, it was an honor to watch
these pros do what they do.
Mallory Johnson
HOMECOMING MUSICAL
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