Oklahoma!
Oklahoma, the musical is about cowboys, farmers, lovers, feuds, and many more unexpected things. According to the playbill, “A confident cowboy competes with a surly, mysterious farmhand for the honor of taking a lovely young farm woman to a dance in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 musical adaptation of Green Grow the Lilacs.”
The IKE players had auditions in November for this classic musical and have been working around the clock to remember all of our lines, songs, blocking, and dancing. With the help of our supportive director, Stephen Clark, and assistant director, Gina Prescott, this has been an iconic show for our IKE players. Gina is also our choreographer who has worked with each member of the staff to create a confidence in us like no one else could. In charge of our one-of-a-kind set and tech crew is Kristen Clinkenbread or, as we call her, Clink. Clink’s official title is technical director. Next is our amazing Teagan Heading, who is our lead technician.
Our crew is the hardest working part of this team. The crew had two weeks to completely learn the entire show, their cues, and get to know their peers. Every single time, they do so without fail. The concept of theater is simply nothing without a crew. They are the ones who bring our show to life every night, with their run crew backstage changing each scene to make the story move, the sound techs using sound effects to create a new reality for the audience, the lighting techs creating a mood on stage with colors and lights, and our unbelievably hard-working stage managers supporting everyone throughout the whole process. Our technical director, Kristen Clinkenbeard, and our lead technician, Teagan Heading, are in charge of this team.
Our talented group of student performers was led by our head director, Stephen Clark, and our co-director and choreographer, Gina Prescott. These two leaders are the glue to this wonderful program. They give their time year-round to perfect each show our community sees. On many occasions, Gina has referred to Clark as “A genius of the stage.” These kids are so lucky to have role models like Prescott and Clark. Their leadership has brought our group into a new era, and we hope it will make our community proud. So, thank you from the bottom of the Oklahoma cast’s hearts!
Our music department has spent the last four months working hard with students to create a magical few hours for our audience, along with the cast and pit. Hard work was put into musical numbers like “Farmer and the Cowman” and “Oklahoma!” It takes a well-oiled machine of a team to put on a classic musical like this. Our amazing musical team includes our vocal director, Seiko Werts, our conductors, Chole Pierce and Tim Rooney, and our music associate, Jeremy Friesz. Sadelle Verduzco, our oboe player in the pit, says, “Our music team put our show together insanely fast, and the energy in the pit is like no other because of our music team.” Our pit has been working very hard as a team.
These students have worked day and night for the past four months to create a musical that our community can enjoy and that our extraordinary team can be proud of! If you would like to join us for future performances, contact Mr. Clark!