The Fair Grove theater program recently participated in the remake of the 2016 production Bright Star. Two other schools, Clever and Strafford, joined Fair Grove at the Strafford Auditorium for the performance.
Leroy Barker, theater teacher and director at Fair Grove, stated, “Bright Star is the story of one woman at two different points in her life: the first, when she is young growing up carefree in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina; the second, when she is a well-to-do magazine editor in Asheville, 22 years later. The show looks at the, often complicated, dynamics of family and relationships over time.”
“This show is different from most of the shows we have done as we were trying to offer students opportunities they did not usually have,” Mr. Barker stated. In the past the Fair Grove theater production had put on previous plays such as Risk, Beauty and the Beast, and The Outsiders
The production is not like the usual play that the theater department is used to, this production is among four different school with many different actors and more people in charge
Mr. Barker stated, “Leroy Barker (Technical Director, Light Designer, Construction Manager, Fair Grove), Katherine Gibson (Acting Director, Concept Designer, Strafford), Nicholas Penton (Publicity Manager, Playbill Designer, Forsyth), Erin Scheibe (Costume Designer, Dramaturgist, formerly of Clever), Stephanie Schumacher (Choreographer, Costume Designer, Clever), and Scott Walker (Technical Director, Sound Manager, Clever).”
The theater production picked this play at the end of last school year and they have been working hard on it most of summer and beginning of the school year.
Nico Jenkins (12) stated, “I would say that my favorite part of working on Bright Star was all of the new friends I have made over the course of this past summer.”
“Scheduling rehearsal was definitely a struggle with all of the different school schedules, but it was super refreshing to do a show with people I had never met before,” Jenkins also stated.
This play was just one of many that Mr. Barker hopes to put on this year and for many years to come. Fair Grove’s Theater program is welcoming everyone to attend performances.
