SEPTEMBER 23, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerCommunity
McNary drama ‘reaching for more’
KEIZERTIMES.COM
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
From going to space to
The Addams Family to a twist
on Shakespeare, the McNary
drama department is “reaching
for more” in its 30th season
inside the Ken Collins Theater.
The fi rst show, Defying
Gravity, Nov. 2-5, centers
around the 1986 Challenger
explosion
and
focuses
primarily on the teacher, who
lost her life, and her daughter.
“It’s 20 years later and
the daughter is reminiscing
about her mother and how
absent she was in that year
she was getting ready,” said
Dallas Myers, McNary drama
director. “Now as an adult,
she’s wrestling with it and
the times she didn’t have her
mom, all the time that her
mom was literally reaching for
more. The daughter essentially
sounds like and feels like she’s
talking to a therapist, like the
audience is her therapist.”
Also in the play are a NASA
mechanic, a bartender, an
Oregon couple driving across
the country to see the launch
and the French Impressionist
painter Claude Monet, who
has his own artistic quest.
Myers believes the play
will be good for his students
who weren’t alive when the
Challenger exploded.
“I love this play,” Myers
said. “I think there’s some
really touching moments in it.
I remember what it was like.
Everybody waiting for the
teacher and then how tragic
it was.”
On Friday, Nov. 18, Myers
is inviting all McNary drama
alumni back for a 30th
anniversary celebration.
“Ken Collins was a giant of
theater and Linda Baker was
a giant of theater in the city,”
Myers said. “Their legacy is
what we want to celebrate so
we want to do a small cabaret
night with a single piano and
people can come and sing
songs that they sang when
they were at McNary or tell
stories about Ken or Linda
and anybody else who was
involved in the theater.”
In January, McNary will
present its annual musical—
The Addams Family. The story
centers around Wednesday, her
love for a normal boy and the
meeting of the two families.
“The version available for
high schools is super fun,”
Myers said. “It’s hilarious
and it’s every Addams Family
thing that you can think. It’s
awesome. I love it.”
While
the
Broadway
version had 22 people, Myers
has cast 42. Along with the
main characters is an ensemble
of 33 ghostly ancestors.
“I love to do shows that
have huge ensembles. This
one is probably a stretch but
it will just be a cooler, bigger
sound for when they sing on
stage. It gives more kids an
opportunity.”
The drama department
will host its annual One Act
Festival in March, which for
the fi rst time last year was all
student written. Myers had
the diffi cult task of selecting
seven original plays out of 16
and has another 30 kids in his
playwriting class this year.
Also in March, McNary
will perform Crimes of the Heart,
a small play about three sisters
in the south struggling to
fi gure out life after one sister
shoots her abusive husband.
McNary is known for its
original looks at Shakespeare
and this season will be no
different as Myers is setting
the story of Julius Caesar in a
high school.
“All the characters will
be high school students and
one of the things that I think
students really need to think
about a lot is how they behave
with each other online,”
Myers said.
“Instead
of
brutally
murdering Caesar, we’re going
to socially murder Caesar. I
think it will be really neat to
explore that with these kids
because it’s something they
deal with all of the time, online
bullying and what does it
mean to be a friend? We have
a lot of fun with Shakespeare.
We usually go pretty big with
our Shakespeare plays.”
The show is tentatively
titled #Caesar and will be
performed the fi rst weekend
of May.
Community book sale Oct. 7-8
The Keizer Community
Library’s Fall Book Sale is
scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 7, and 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at Keizer
City Hall, 930 Chemawa Rd.
NE.
Items include overstock
books, books on tape and CD,
movies on videotape and DVD,
and puzzles. Prices are 50 cents
for paperback books, $1 for
hardcover books, and $1 or
less for most other items, with
special pricing on a few select
items and furnishings.
Bargain time is 3-4 p.m.
Saturday, when full grocery
bags sell for $4 and full boxes
for $5 Shoppers are asked to
bring their own bag or box.
The library is also offering buy
one, get one at 50 percent off
the special bargain prices.
Donations of the above-
mentioned items are always
welcome. To donate, visit the
library during the following
hours: 1 to 7 p.m. Monday
through Thursday; 1 to 4
p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday; and 1 to 4 p.m.
Sunday. Or call the library
during those hours at 503-
390-2370.
Additional
information
is available on the library’s
website, www.keizerlibrary.org.
We are
Everything
Except
Overpriced
Simple
Cremation
$795
Inexpensive Burial
and Funeral Options
Submitted
Avery Smith (Pugsley Addams), front, Josiah Henifi n (Uncle Fester), Skyla Cawthon (Morticia
Addams, Ashton Thomas (Gomez Addams), Emma Blanco (Wednesday Addams), Annie Purkey
(Grandma Addams) and Matthew Albright (Lurch), back, make up the cast of The Addams Family
musical to be performed by the McNary drama department in January.
Homecoming court
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary seniors Jaylene Montano, front, left, Alyssa Looney, Rebecca Amerino, Katelyn Lester, Kolby
Barker, Alex Martin, Bryce Looney and Tyler Sorenson were named to the 2016 homecoming court.
KEIZER MAYOR CATHY CLARK
JOINS GATOR AND DENISE
EVERY WEDNESDAY
AT 5:30 PM
Pre-Planning Available
On-Site Crematory
4365 RIVER RD N, KEIZER
503.393.7037
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TUNE IN AS WE TALK ALL THINGS KEIZER!