Coshocton Footlight Players hold season kickoff event
Director Shane Pyle presented plays for the upcoming season. (Marianne Austin)
On evening of Friday, Jan. 13, the Coshocton Footlight Players held their season kickoff gala and annual meeting at the Triple Locks Theater.
Sheila Mayse presented the first show of the season, “The Play That Goes Wrong” directed by Shane Pyle and produced by Patty Wherley. Part Monty Python, part Sherlock Holmes, this 1920s whodunit is pure delight.
“Love, Loss and What I Wore,” directed by Sheila Mayse is the second production of the season coming in May.
This production encourages women to share their stories. The main roles are five women, but several women are needed for the chorus if anyone would still like to audition.
“Jesus Christ Super Star” planned for July is a musical that follows the last seven days in the life of Jesus, from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This third show of the season is directed by Jackie McCune and Ellen Hardesty. “Ellen and I need more cast members,” McCune said. “We still need chorus, lepers, disciples, and some younger people.”
Heath Chaney is the actor who plays Jesus. “I usually have jitters a little on opening night,” he said. “I played Jesus in ‘Godspell’ at Clary Gardens last summer and now this summer I’m Jesus in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’ Last year was a challenge but it’s definitely not as nerve racking this year because I’ve played the role even though it’s quite a different show than ‘Godspell.’ I’m looking forward to it again. We have a great cast. There are always unexpected parts in the play that land better than you thought they would and parts that have the audience rolling with laughter that nobody really laughed at in rehearsal. The audience is like the missing ingredient.”
Kyle McMullen plays Peter. “Peter is the one that denies Jesus three times,” he said. “In the fall I was in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ so I thought I would try my hat at singing. I was the narrator for ‘Into the Woods’ and that was where I got into theater playing a main role. This is a continuation of that. I have been enjoying it. I was too embarrassed to sing when I was younger but I’m a little older now and I don’t care as much. I started singing to my kids when I was putting them to sleep. I adapted some music I grew up with into lullabies. I got a part as narrator and that confronted every single fear I had about singing in front of people, and it wasn’t that bad. It’s been good, it’s been fun, and this is a different type of play.”
The fourth and final show of the season in October is “Shining City.” “What do you do when you walk away from theater for 12 years? You do two shows when you come back,” Pyle said. “’Shining City’ is a ghost story, a very haunting ghost story. You don’t know if you are really dealing with a ghost or the deep psychological pain of a man who tragically lost his wife and doesn’t know how he lost her. And a psychiatrist who is dealing with his own issues at home and the things that are haunting him. It is a very dark psychological play not recommended for young children.”
A bonus play for the 2023 Christmas season will be directed by Susan Guthrie, titled “A Gift to Remember.” It is a story about people who are strangers being trapped together over Christmas who end up spending the holiday in a train depot. It will be outside the regular season so all shows will charge admission for all productions.
Reserve your tickets for one show at a time or reserve your seats for the entire season. Memberships are available for the 2023 season. Call the box office at 740-622-2959 or visit http://www.footlightplayers.com for more information.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
