Charlie Brown, that wishy washy wimpy boy, will be the focus of this year’s play as performed by students in the Picayune area.
Picayune High School’s drama team is currently ironing out fine wrinkles in their production of “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” to ready it for public viewing this weekend.
The public showings will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Showings are at 7 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Picayune Junior High School Auditorium, said Theater Director Tony Seal. The 2 p.m. showing on Saturday was added at the last minute to attract some of the Street Fair crowd this weekend.
Admission will cost $7 for adults and $5 for students on all days and for all showings.
Work on the production has been ongoing since January and involves about 40 students with about seven major characters. Seal said he has double cast the production due to the abundance of talented students who wanted to take part.
This presentation also features a small live orchestra that has professional and two student performers, Melissa Auzine on flute and Jennifer Mitchell on keyboard.
During the Tuesday evening dress rehearsal the Picayune Item attended the cast demonstrated that the bulk of the show was under wraps by the cast and the orchestra. However there were still some timing issues that were being tweaked between the cast and the musicians. Seal said Tuesday evening was the second time the cast worked with the live orchestra. The musicians seemed to have the score down pat for only receiving the music a week prior to the Picayune Item’s attendance. Seal expects the timing issues to be ironed out before opening night.
“The more they do it the better it gets,” Seal said.
Many of the students who performed for the dress rehearsal Tuesday carried their voices well. Seal said he has been working with the bulk of the cast for about three years since they are recurring members of the Picayune High School Drama program.
All the favorite characters were demonstrated in the show, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Sally Brown and of course Snoopy.
Wednesday and Thursday mornings the group performed for the various elementary schools in the district to get the cast and musicians more practice time and also to introduce the elementary students to the arts, Seal said. Porter said about 900 elementary students were in attendance Wednesday morning.
Notable stars include Jacob Hickman as Charlie Brown, Joe Burge as Snoopy, Alex Franklin as Sally and Heather Campbell as Lucy, Seal said. The play is being produced and conducted by Jerry Cumberland, Donna Porter is the artistic consultant and Melanie Franklin is the costume designer.