REGION
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
East Oregonian
A3
‘Godspell’ features biblical tales with modern twist
Production opens
Thursday with
preview night
By TAMMY MALGESINI
East Oregonian
A modern-day version of
the Bible’s gospels, “God-
spell” includes a roving
troupe of actors who re-en-
act the parables through
song, dance, mime and
comedy.
In 1971, the production
initially opened off-Broad-
way for a five-year run —
a week later, it opened on
Broadway. During a 2011
revival, “Godspell” found
its way back to
day, March 3 at
Broadway. The pop-
6:30 p.m. and mat-
ular musical will be
inée shows on Sun-
days, Feb. 24 and
staged by College
March 3 at 2 p.m.
Community The-
atre, beginning with
Due to scheduling
a
pay-what-you-
conflicts, there isn’t
can preview night.
a performance on
Hale
The event is Thurs-
Saturday, March 2.
day at 7:30 p.m. in
Mayer said the
Bob Clapp Theatre at Blue show has been completely
Mountain Community Col- revamped by Terry Hale,
lege, 2411 N.W. Carden Ave., BMCC’s newest theatre fac-
Pendleton. Music direc- ulty member. In addition to
tor Margaret Mayer said it teaching two classes, he also
features a cast and crew of serves as coordinator/artis-
more than 40 people and a tic director for the theatre
department.
children’s chorus.
Also, Hale is the execu-
Regular performances
are Feb. 22-23, Feb. 28 and tive artistic director of the
March 1 at 7:30 p.m.; Sun- Elgin Opera House. He has
directed and produced the-
atrical productions for 25
years, including 45 major
productions over the last 11
years for the Elgin Opera
House.
No stranger to the stage,
Hale also has acted in sev-
eral musical theatre produc-
tions. Some of his favorite
roles include Col. Picker-
ing (“My Fair Lady”), Buf-
falo Bill (“Annie Get Your
Gun”), The Lion (“Wizard
of Oz”), Rev. Moore (“Foot-
loose”), Rooster (“Annie”),
and a brother in “Joseph
and the Amazing Techni-
color Dreamcoat.” He will
play the part of “Bill” in
the opera house’s upcom-
ing production of “Mamma
Mia.”
Theatrical talent runs in
the family — Hale’s daugh-
ter, Abigail Hale, is in
charge of choreography for
“Godspell.” The 16-year-
old is a high school sopho-
more who hopes to continue
her passion for theater after
high school.
In February 2018, she
won the Freddie G. award
for best choreography for
her work as the Opera
House Youth Actors’ junior
choreographer at the Junior
Theatre Festival in Sacra-
mento, California. Hale said
participating in the festival
enhanced her opportunities
as a choreographer.
“Now I can say I’m an
award-winning choreogra-
pher at such a young age,”
she said.
Tickets for “Godspell”
are $20 for adults and $15
for children (over age 3) and
students of all ages. The
Pioneer Hall box office is
open Monday through Fri-
days from noon to 2 p.m.
and prior to performances.
In addition, people can call
541-278-5953 or buy online
at www.cctpendleton.com.
———
Contact Community Edi-
tor Tammy Malgesini at
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4539
Pendleton officials push to
keep education dollars local
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Contributed photo
Alice Massey, of Pendleton, is the featured soloist on “Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orches-
tra, Op 26” by Max Bruch during Saturday’s concert of the Inland Northwest Orchestra in
Pendleton.
Inland Musicians tune up
with free Saturday concert
Alice Massey is
the featured
violin soloist
IF YOU GO
By TAMMY MALGESINI
East Oregonian
The Inland Northwest
Musicians will warm up
their 20th anniversary sea-
son with a winter concert.
Under the direction of
R. Lee Friese, the Inland
Northwest Orchestra will
perform Saturday at 4 p.m.
at the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, 1401 S.W. Goodwin
Place, Pendleton. There is
no admission charge.
Violinist Alice Massey
is the featured soloist
during a performance of
“Concerto No. 1 for Vio-
lin and Orchestra, Op 26”
by Max Bruch. The Pendle-
ton woman began studying
violin as an 8-year-old in
Fort Worth, Texas. In high
school, Massey performed
as principal second violin-
ist with the Youth Orches-
tra of Greater Fort Worth,
traveling with the group to
participate in the National
Youth Orchestra Festival in
Washington, D.C., and the
National Symphony Orches-
tra League convention in
New Orleans.
Earning a bachelor’s
degree in music from Walla
Walla University, Massey
taught music in Walla Wal-
la-area schools before mov-
ing to Pendleton and transi-
tioning to a career in human
services-developmental dis-
abilities. Working in the
field for 31 years, Massey
is the regional developmen-
WHO: Inland Northwest
Musicians
WHAT: Winter concert
WHEN: 4 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Seventh-day
Adventist Church, 1401
S.W. Goodwin Place,
Pendleton
tal disabilities manager for
Greater Oregon Behavioral
Health, Inc.
During the past 40 years,
she has performed as a sec-
tion string player with the
Yakima, Washington-Idaho,
Grande Ronde and Mid-Co-
lumbia symphonies. Massey
served as concertmaster for
the Walla Walla Symphony
and Oregon East Symphony
before becoming a founding
member of Inland North-
west Musicians in 1999.
She currently serves as con-
certmaster, the orchestra’s
music librarian and record-
ing secretary for the Inland
Northwest Musicians board
of directors. Massey plays a
Josef Klotz violin made in
1795.
The concert program
also features Felix Mendels-
sohn’s “The Hebrides Over-
ture, Op 26,” aka “Fingal’s
Cave,” and “Water Music
Suite” by George Frideric
Handel.
According to the British
Broadcasting Corporation,
Mendelssohn was known
for his love of traveling,
which provided inspiration
for his works. The German
composer often wrote let-
ters, describing his travels
in great detail.
“In order to make you
understand how extraordi-
narily the Hebrides affected
me, the following came into
my mind there,” he wrote in
August 1829 regarding the
composition.
Salli Ketchersid, INWM
publicity coordinator, said
the piece is a standalone
composition — “The Hebri-
des” doesn’t precede a play
or opera — a form common
for the Romantic period.
It has been described as a
“tone-poem.”
National Public Radio
reported that Handel was
commissioned to write the
“Water Music Suite.” Lag-
ging at the polls in 1717,
political advisors of King
George I of England encour-
aged him to throw a party.
The piece’s concert pre-
miere was staged on a barge
on the River Thames.
Inland Northwest Musi-
cians is committed to pro-
viding live musical perfor-
mances to rural audiences.
Although there’s no charge
for performances, donations
are appreciated.
The 20th anniversary
season will crescendo with
a reunion concert in June.
The celebration will include
a commissioned orchestral/
choral piece.
For more information,
contact inwm@machmedia.
net, 541-289-4696 or visit
www.inlandnorthwestmusi-
cians.com.
———
Contact Community Edi-
tor Tammy Malgesini at
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.
com or 541-564-4539
With his position as
the head of the Pendleton
School District secure for
at least another year, Super-
intendent Chris Fritsch is
engaging in the education
funding debate that should
be a focal point of the cur-
rent legislative session.
The Pendleton School
Board approved extending
Fritsch’s tenure through the
end of the 2019-20 school
year on Feb. 13.
On Tuesday, the East
Oregonian published an
editorial column in which
Fritsch implored lawmak-
ers to fund K-12 educa-
tion at an adequate level
and provide districts with
enough flexibility to spend
the funding in the areas
where they need it the most.
“If we keep chasing rain-
bows or windmills, we will
once again fall short and be
subject to criticism for the
same results,” he wrote.
In a meeting with the
editorial board, Fritsch
and the district’s other cen-
tral office administrators
expanded on his views. One
of the focuses of Fritsch’s
criticism was the state’s
handling of the Quality
Education Model, a for-
mula that determines how
much Oregon should spend
to properly fund K-12.
Although the state is
supposed to meet the mod-
el’s projection every year,
state officials have instead
had to offer explanations as
to why it couldn’t be done
in every budget cycle since
the model was introduced
in 1999.
“I don’t know why it
doesn’t bother anybody, but
it should,” Fritsch said.
Michelle Jones, the dis-
trict’s director of business
services, said the cuts to
state funding that came
during the recession have
stopped, but the fund-
ing hasn’t been restored to
pre-recession levels either.
The district has 28 fewer
staff members than it did
in 2008, and although per
pupil spending has risen
in the past 10 years from
$8,938 to $10,870, Jones
said any gains have been
offset by a long-term
decline in enrollment.
Fritsch said the state has
adopted a “nickel and dime
mentality” when it comes
to educational funding,
expanding certain areas
while ignoring the larger
budget issues. He later
added that he was confident
that his four-person central
office administrative team
could solve district-wide
issues like absenteeism if
they had the right amount
of resources to do it.
The district could get
more resources as soon
as the next school year as
Gov. Kate Brown tries to
shepherd a $2 billion rev-
enue package through the
Legislature to boost K-12
spending for initiatives like
expanding preschool and
career technical education,
a 180-day school year, and
smaller class sizes.
Although the state has
talked about districts opt-
ing into the improvements
of their choice, the Pendle-
ton School District admin-
istration expressed some
skepticism that some of the
proposed reforms would
lead to better outcomes.
Fritsch said Pendleton
already graduates 81 per-
cent of its students, and
even if the district added
10 days to its schedule, it
wouldn’t necessarily lead
to a higher rate if those
days weren’t filled with
better support.
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No bail hearing in Umapine murder case
PENDLETON — Mur-
der defendant Antonio
Vasquez-Vargas waived his
right to a bail hearing.
Vasquez-Vargas, 53, of
Walla Walla, faces charges
of murder and felon in pos-
session of a firearm for the
November 2018 shooting
death of Renee Luiz-Anto-
nio of Milton-Freewater in
Umapine.
Vasquez-Vargas is in the
Umatilla County Jail, Pend-
leton, and was due in circuit
court Feb. 4 for a hearing
to determine the strength
of the evidence and case
against him, and whether
the court should reduce his
$5 million bail.
The court that day
checked the status of the
case, according to court
records, and defense attor-
ney Kara Davis on Feb.
7 filed a motion to waive
Vasquez-Vargas’s right to
the bail hearing. Circuit
Judge Christopher Brauer
signed off on the waiver the
following day.
According to search war-
rant affidavits, Vasquez-Var-
gas told police Luiz-Anto-
nio harassed and tried to
kill him, so Vasquez-Vargas
killed Luiz-Antonio first.
Vasquez-Vargas’s next
court proceeding is a status
check the morning of March
6.
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