AHS opens Grease tonight By LAUREN KRIZANSKY Courier staff writer ALAMOSA – Go, go, go, go grease lightning. Tonight, the Alamosa High School (AHS) Theatre opens its fall musical, Grease, the second production under the direction of Josh Streeter who has been working since last year to resurrect the passion behind Mean Moose live performances. “It looks amazing,” said Streeter to the Alamosa Board of Education (ABOE) Monday night about the musical. “They did a fantastic job.” The AHS auditorium will take those who can remember and others who can only imagine back to 1959 this evening, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. “The students are very excited,” Streeter said. “There is that vibration around us.” The musical, in which AHS music director Kim Waller is lending her expertise from down in the pit, brought 45 Mean Moose together to create unique relationships similar to the ones Danny Zuko (Josh Cody), Sandy Dumbrowski (Amara Valdez-Paz) and their pals clad in leather jackets and poodle skirts share on the stage. “It fosters a culture,” said ABOE Official Keith Vance about how Cody, a star AHS athlete, is also giving his time to the arts and diversifying his high school experience. “It is a great thing.” In the spring, the theatre performed The Election, a comedy about a high school government gone mad. The play attracted 30 AHS actors, actresses and techs, and revealed the strengths and weaknesses of AHS tools available for the extracurricular activity. “I was really happy about what we were able to do,” Streeter said. “I am excited to be leading the ship.” Not only is he leading it, but he is making it bigger and better. After Streeter this summer found out Adams State University - his alma mater - was no longer in need of the equipment in Richardson Hall because of the remodel, he called dibs on recycling the goods. Today, the AHS auditorium is refitted with $10,000 worth stage lighting fixtures. “The fixtures would otherwise be rusting,” he said. “I am really happy to work with the community.” The bright lights are, however, calling attention to additional structural and cosmetic stage needs, he said, particularly the floor and the curtains. Another AHS Theatre request, he added, is a bit of financial support from the school district to cover royalty payments. The fees associated with legally producing Grease were $2,000, and that total doesn’t include set building materials, which Alamosa Building Supply donated for this fall musical, allowing AHS art teacher John Dodds and his students to turn the school’s stage into Grease’s Rydell High. “Theatre just fosters collaboration,” Streeter said. The future of the AHS Theatre could unite even more minds, he said. If the student interest continues, he plans to develop a “Student Showcase.” The showcase would enable students to act, direct and write, and it could possible trigger post-secondary interest because there would be more ownership. “I want to bring more and better theatre to AHS,” Streeter said.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:09:10 +0000
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