×

“Makin’ It” features large, talented cast, Iowa playwright

As many are aware, Iowa Central Community College is experiencing tremendous expansion, and our Center for Performing Arts is set to debut in the next few months. Our spring musical, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” will most certainly be in our renovated theater, and we are beyond thankful for the amazing community and college support for this monumental project. Our entire Iowa Central team is incredibly excited about how that new space will improve our students’ experiences–as well as the enhancements for audience enjoyment.

In the meantime, we find ourselves utilizing the space that has proven itself a tremendous asset as a performance venue. I love the intimacy that the smaller Bio Health Science Auditorium brings from our cast to our audience. Many patrons last year commented on how wonderful it was to see and hear so clearly, to oftentimes feel in the midst of the action. We also learned how to create “magic” in a space that was not designed for it–so who knows how we might utilize that in the future.

The other exciting advantage for our audiences is that parking remains a breeze. The BHS is located on the south side of the campus and can be accessed easily from the Kenyon Road entrance. Parking is directly across from the Bio Health Science building–in the Iowa Works parking lot. Parking is also easily accessible in the AST Parking Lots 3 and 4.

As I was reading plays this summer–with the returning and incoming talent in mind as always as well as the staging constraints of the BHS–I was thrilled to discover yet another piece which could not only feature a large, talented cast, but also offer amazing solo monologues, unique slow-motion and freezing scenes and reveal insights into surviving the “high school experience” It is my favorite genre–a dramatic comedy written by Cynthia Mercati, and one that also invites moments of song, dance and musical underscoring which has become my signature wheelhouse for more than a decade now.

My first reading of this script made me immediately place it in my “To Direct” pile. I am thrilled when a play is well-written, when it grabs me at the start and takes me to a terrific closure. I am an optimist and realist by nature, so I appreciate both the honesty of the characters’ struggles and the hope in the end. Interestingly, I discovered in my research that the author is a playwright-in-residence at the Des Moines Playhouse Theatre. Her plays have won numerous awards and have been performed in all 50 states, so I’m excited to connect with her and invite her to our performances and rehearsals.

The time is set as “The Present,” but it was written in 1988. Ashley Garst, my technical theatre coordinator, and I have decided it would be fun and play even better if we actually did set this in the late ’80s. Since I graduated in 1979, it will be fun for me to “be young again”–even if only momentarily onstage.

Interestingly, my good friend, Stacy Hansen who is now the director of the Iowa High School Speech Association, was actually in Mercati’s’s very first production of this show at the Playhouse. What a small, connected world.

Here is how the script is described in the catalog of Samuel French, which produces the show:

“Makin’ It” is a play about the ordinary kids you see walking down any hallway in any school. Yet, for all their travails, the kids come to understand their own inner difficulties and how, truly, they are all the same, searching both to understand and accept themselves, as they strive to make it through four years of high school. At the heart of “Makin’ It” are a number of monologues in which the characters step out of the action to address their thoughts to the audience.”

So–mark your calendars and reserve your seats soon for Iowa Central’s fall production of “Makin’ It” which will run Oct. 19-21 at 7 p.m. and ending with a matinee on Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium.

Tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students with Iowa Central faculty, staff and students attending for free. Tickets will be on sale at the Iowa Central bookstore or online: the link to the website is https://secure.iowacentral.edu/bookstore/Details.asp?ProdID=1277&category=6 . The other option is to log on to www.iowacentral.edu/bookstore and click on tickets–on the top row menu bar in the middle. Tickets will be available at the door, but due to a more intimate setting–with fewer seats available each night–we highly encourage reserving seats ahead of time so that we can accommodate all patrons who want to attend.

Makin’ It Cast List

Students:

Scott Barrows: Ryan Madden

Brooke Benedict: Reese Pederson

Karl Swanson: Hugo Harp

Fellow Athletes: Joey Chanthavisouk Adonis Henderson

Codey Berg

Ben Meyer

Libby: Gabby Schumacher

Brainiac Friend Group: Sarah Cummins

Laynie Knecht

Cailey Segebart

Anna Fisher

Piper Graham

Hunter Dunbar: Maddox Williams

Alex: Collin Vik Travis: Ben Stinnett

*Partiers Friend Group: Ty Schluter

Pat: Elle Clark

Barb: Annaka Holthaus

Sharon: Lesley Chavez

*Cheer Friend Group: Rianna Vivens Addison Johnson

Abby Meyer

Kaylan Reames Buzzard Fishbeck: Dennis Morgan

Jen: Emma Davis

Flag/Band Friend Group: Lexi Flatness

Cindy Lopez

Dani Abens

Allee Hinote

Howie: Joshua Madden

Monica: Laura Heisterkamp

Fellow Loner: Ash Wacholtz

Len: Andy Sweazey

Burnout: Sabrina Horton

Heavy Metal Friend Group: Jayce Leininger

Chloe Speck

Julia Sande

Corly Barrows: Maddy Vinchattle

Adults:

High School Staff:

Vince Carnelli: Sam Opfer

Mrs. Cozlowe: Isabel Negroni

Ms. Healy: Shelby Swartzendruber

Secretary/Announcer: Anyston Henning

Parents:

Ed Barrows: Camden Karageorge

Bev Barrows: Grace Minor

Sybil Dunbar: Rebecca Rainwater

Rehearsal Assistants: Hailey Davis,

Kendra Morris,

Taryn McKimmey

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today