The Garden City High School Drama Department is proud to announce its 2024-2025 Season.
The Garden City High School Drama Department is proud to announce its 2024-2025 Season. The department is currently looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor this season. Season sponsors receive discounted season sponsor passes (4 tickets per pass), advertising/recognition in the programs and preshow and a tax deduction. Sponsorships begin as low as $25 up to $500. Contact Ms. Alice Hilt at ahilt@gckschools.com for more information, or ask a current GCHS Drama student about sponsorships.
The season will begin with Eclipsed by Patricia Burke Brogan will be performed October 4th-6th. Eclipsed is the story of four of the penitents within the Magdalene Laundry- young, passionately alive women forgotten by the outside world, eclipsed from the light of life and human connection. Discarded and forgotten by society, these "fallen women" are stripped of their human rights, forced into slave labor and religious conformity. With no hope of being rescued, the women- physically and emotionally abused- fight to keep hope alive amidst songs, stories and playful ideas of marrying Elvis. Eclipsed was one of the first plays to tell the story of the Magdalene Laundries. After seeing the horrendous goings on in the laundries as a young novitiate, playwright Patricia Burke Brogan decided to highlight the plight of these women. Over 30,000 girls passed through these institutions, the last one closed in 1996. Eclipsed will be directed by Robyn Hilt, Assistant Theatre Director.
The second production of the season will be The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder on November 15th-17th. The Skin of Our Teeth will be adjudicated for the Kansas Thespian Festival held in January. Meet George and Maggie Antrobus of Excelsior, New Jersey, a suburban, commuter-town couple (married for 5,000 years), who bear more than a casual resemblance to that first husband and wife, Adam and Eve; the two Antrobus children, Gladys (perfect in every way, of course) and Henry (who likes to throw rocks and was formerly known as Cain); and their garrulous maid, Sabina (the eternal seductress), who takes it upon herself to break out of character and interrupt the course of the drama at every opportunity (“I don’t understand a word of this play!”). Whether he is inventing the alphabet or merely saving the world from apocalypse, George and his redoubtable family somehow manage to survive – by the skin of their teeth. Completed by the author less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, The Skin of Our Teeth (1942) broke from established theatrical conventions and walked off with the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Combining farce, burlesque, satire, and elements of the comic strip, Thornton Wilder depicts an Everyman family as it narrowly escapes one end-of-the-world disaster after another, from the Ice Age to flood to war.
The third production will be the newly revised version of the The Unsinkable Molly Brown on February 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th & 9th. The Unsinkable Molly Brown is the rags-to-riches love story of Molly and James Joseph "J.J." Brown, owners of one of the richest mines in the U.S. at the turn of the twentieth century. The show features music and lyrics by the incomparable Meredith Willson, and a book and additional lyrics by Tony-nominated author Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture) based on the original book by Richard Henry Morris. This revitalized version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown shows Molly as she really was: vibrant, progressive, and ready to fight for the underdog as a champion of women's rights, labor rights, and immigration reform. In this spirited tale of a legendary American original, we follow the exploits of Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown, a miner's wife in Leadville, Colorado who becomes an overnight millionaire with her equally feisty husband J.J. But high society is no match for Molly. As she turns the upper crust of Denver upside down, stands with the miners of Leadville, traverses Europe, and famously survives the Titanic, Molly proves her mettle wherever she goes. From rags to riches, Molly Brown tackled big issues and looked out for the little guy, using her personality, platform, and resources to "Share the Luck."
The final production of the season will be the murder mystery Murder’s in the Heir by Billy St. John on April 4th-6th. Turn the game Clue into a play and you have the masterfully entertaining Murder’s in the Heir!’ Almost every character in this hilarious mystery has the weapon, opportunity, and motive to commit the unseen murder. And it’s up to your audience to decide who actually did it! Each of the heirs to the tyrannical billionaire Simon Starkweather has the means and the motive to do away with him. Starkweather gathers his family and employees to announce the contents of his will. His lawyer, Lois van Zandt, reveals that he has bequeathed vast fortunes to his befuddled niece Fiona, her playboy son Jordan, his great-niece Paula (a Southern belle) and his grandson Simon III, as well as to his many servants. Then Lois delivers the bombshell! Within hours this will becomes invalid. Of course, the rejected heirs are not pleased, so it’s not surprising when they roam the old mansion carrying such items as an ax, a gun, and poison. Predictably, the lights go out, and Simon is discovered murdered. Simon III (played by the same actor who plays the elderly Simon) is determined to find his grandfather’s killer, with the help of detective Mike Davis. The play’s unique ending, utilizing secret ballots gathered at intermission from the audience, determines the killer in this Billy St. John maze of murder.
Tickets for all shows are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. The box office opens an hour prior to the production for the purchase of tickets at the door. Cash, checks, and credit/debit cards are accepted. Shows Thursday-Saturday begin promptly at 7 pm, and Sunday shows begin at 2:30 pm. Please arrive at least ten minutes prior to the show to ensure seating before the show begins.