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September 10, 2010

Corner kicks off theater season with Harvey

By Ben Montgomery The North Jefferson News

CORNER — Corner High School’s 2010-2011 theater season will kick off on Tuesday with their production of Harvey, directed by Debra Reeser.

Although the theater department performed a few shows at the end of the last school year and over the summer, this will be the first full season at the new campus on Warrior-Jasper Road.

“There was no performance space at the old campus,” said Mike Putman, a producer, director and faculty member in the theater department. “We went from zero to a hundred.”

Putman said the new facility is the nicest he’s seen in Alabama.

“It’s one of the smartest. It took me a month of training to get a hold of the place. I taught everything I learned to my students, and now they know it better than I do,” said Putman.

Harvey, by Mary Chase, tells the story of Elwood P. Dowd, a man who begins to introduce his imaginary friend, a 6-and-a-half foot tall rabbit, to his friends and family.

Putman said the department doesn’t usually do comedies, but that they were trying to branch out.

“I normally feel more comfortable with drama,” said Putman. Three of the season’s shows are comedies: Harvey, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and season closer The Little Shop of Horrors.

“Little Shop of Horrors is one of my personal favorite musicals,” said Putman.

Some of the productions in this season are aimed toward children; one such show is The Bully Show, an interactive piece that mimics a fake game show in which audience members compete to be the biggest bully. The show ends with a life lesson.

“Even though you win the game, you lose at life,” said Putman.

Corner always competes in the Trumbauer theater Festival, but this will be the first year it is held at Corner. The Trumbauer Festival, held in December, has competitions for one-act plays, stage management, crew and other categories.

Winners from Corner will go on to compete at the state level at the University of Alabama in Florence, where Corner students will have the chance to audition for scholarships. Corner students won $473,895 last year in scholarship money.

“But, we’ve got a big senior class this year,” said Putman. “We’re shooting for half a million.”

The theater department is starting a film series program this year, too. Every few weeks, the department hosts a $5 screening for a film; the next one is Iron Man 2 on Sept. 30. Putman said the program is based on a similar one at the Alabama theater in Birmingham, and that he is trying to choose a broad variety of films that appeal to all audiences. Putman said the school has purchased the royalties and rental fees to be able to show the films, and that the money will probably be used to hire outside professionals that will conduct theater workshops for the students.

Tickets for Harvey are $5 for students and $7 for adults.

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