The classic characters of the Peanuts comic strip will come to life on the stage of Irving A. Robbins Middle School in Farmington.
The students will present their take on You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, with three shows on March 29 and March 30. The shows are directed by Penelope Sanborn, produced by Leslie Flowers, and musically directed by Karla McClain.
The students are looking forward to taking the iconic characters of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang and reintroducing them to the audience through what they think is a story with a message that remains relevant to this day.
Some of the actors are finding a way to relate to their own characters and are using that in their performances.
It all comes with a lot of humor and fun moments, they said, but the classic characters they’re playing are the best part of the show because of the way the on-stage performance brings forth the feeling of a comic strip.
The student actors give a lot of credit to the students who are working hard behind the scenes. The school uses a completely student-run group to work as the crew.
“There are so many kids who love to do theater work who don’t want to be on stage,” Sanborn said. “I’ve really tried to instill that every aspect of the production is important, on stage and off. We have a crew of students who move all the set pieces on and off, help with makeup, running the lighting board and sound board. It builds a sense of community. We call it the theater family."
The students are also not trying to just imitate the classic characters of the cartoons. That can be a challenge when your character is so different from your own personality, as Stella Reitich, a seventh grade student who is playing Lucy, found out.
“Certain characters have these distinct personalities,” Reitich said. "Lucy is either too happy or really bad. There’s no in the middle. Her personality is very distinct, so when you walk on stage I have to be a completely different person.
Maddy Flagg, an eight grade student who is playing Sally, said another big challenge for the cast is memorizing the longer speaking parts.
“I had a difficulty on a monologue,” Flagg said.
Szczepanski said it’s amazing to think how months of work will culminate in a quick weekend of three shows.
And after all that work, the cast just hopes the audience appreciates the effort that was put in.
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown will debut at the middle school on March 29 at 7 p.m., with following shows on March 30 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are available online now, at showtix4u.com/events/15271.