By Ben Montgomery
The North Jefferson News
CORNER —
Corner High School will open its first show in its brand new theatre this Friday.
The students have been rehearsing in the building for barely over a week. The theatre is part of Corner High School’s new campus in Dora, which is scheduled to open this summer.
“We used to have rehearsal in lunchrooms, gyms, parking lots, people’s homes... it’s like we’ve moved from a basement to the Taj Mahal overnight,” said Mike Putman, a producer and director for Corner Theatre, and theatre teacher for Corner High School. He has been teaching theatre for over 20 years, and said he never taught in a place like the new Corner theatre.
The new theatre shares a building with a cafeteria and gymnasium, and a concessions stand serves both theatric and sporting events. The facility comes equipped with a fully functional stage, seating for over 600, a dance studio, dressing rooms and costume and prop shops.
“I’ve gone through literally months of training to run this place, and I still have more to learn,” said Putman. “I’ve had some sleepless nights. I wake up in cold sweats.” Because of the extra workload, Putman has been able to hire former high school theatre students from Troy and the University of Alabama in Birmingham to help him. Putman said they still rehearse during the day and occasionally build set pieces at the old campus, but the students have mostly moved the theatre department over to the new building.
“The Entities of a Cherry Blossom Tree” will be the first play performed at the Corner Theatre. It is inspired by the life of Faith Bynum, a Corner theatre student who was rendered quadriplegic in a car accident when she was eight years old. The play tells the story of Entity Seven, played by Bynum, a wheelchair-bound girl in a fantasy world where physical productivity is valued above all else. Because of her disabilty, powerful people called “high-ups” want to eliminate her. Bynum said it was an honor for “Entities of a Cherry Blossom Tree” to be the first play performed in the new theatre.
“I believe that the play is a very inspirational piece. It will give people hope,” said Bynum. “Even though I’m disabled, I can contribute to society.”
Putman is a playwright and was inpired by Bynum’s story, but felt another writer, Steven Webb, was better suited for the job of creating a script. Over the course of several months, Webb conversed with Bynum, and he said the play is the product of those conversations.
“It sounded like a very interesting project, something I’d never done before,” said Webb. “The play isn’t about her life, but it’s inspired by her.”
Putman said the play was, at least in part, a commentary on what society values.
“We throw away valuable things and keep the non valueables... truth is beauty and beauty is truth and that’s all you ever see,” he said.
Putman said about a dozen of his students have theatre scholarships.
“The thing nobody gets about theatre, and about Corner, is you don’t expect to find this caliber of Theatre in Corner. These kids take home awards... their talent is incredible,” said Putman. “In true Corner fashion, there is a cow pasture right next to us.”
“Entities of a Cherry Blossom Tree will only run on Friday at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 7p.m. Afterwards, the theatre department will start preparing for their next show, “The Land of Uz,” a musical retelling of the life of Job.
