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Jesse North: Can the power of theatre convince a small town to overcome its prejudices?
That's what's at the heart of a "Small Town Story," a new musical inspired by actual events
making its debut at South Orange Performing Arts Center. We're here at rehearsal to find out more from the team behind this meaningful show.
Jesse: What is "Small Town Story" about? Sammy Buck: "Small Town Story" is about two families in a North Texas town dealing with the community
controversy over a high school musical. In this case, the high school musical is "Rent." Jesse: Where did the idea for this musical come from?
Brandon James Gwinn: It's inspired by a true story that happened in Rowlett, Texas in 2007.
The first high school production of "Rent" in Texas was canceled because of a community polemic around its subject matter --
whether or not it was appropriate for high school students. Eddie Prunoske: I think at its most distilled,
this is a story about a community that is divided, and I think considering the
insane state of our country right now, I think it's really
important to tell stories about
divided communities and about empathy and about how we can learn to listen to each other better.
Jesse: Tell us about the cast. Eddie: The cast is really amazing. We sort of span the age range.
We have someone as young as 16 and then, I think, folks in their 50s as well.
So we get like a really good mix of sort of perspectives.
Jesse: Who do you play? Zack Blanchette: I play Ricky Hunter. He's kind of a player, kind of a class clown kind of type of person.
He kind of grows a liking to this new student that comes into town named Alex and his goal
throughout the show is kind of to get to know her a little better.
Claire McClanahan: Lois is
a mom to one of the other characters, Alex, and
they moved to Texas from Brooklyn. So they're bringing in a very different perspective on the world,
so Lois doesn't really understand why everyone is so up in arms about doing "Rent."
So she struggles with finding her place and finding her daughter's place in this very different world.
Stacey Todd Holt: I play the father of Scott Ames. He's a single dad and
his only child is Scott. He's on the conservative side,
originally wants his son to be involved with it so he can make friends,
but once he finds out what the show's about, he doesn't want his son to participate. He objects to it.
Jesse: What do you think the writers have brought to this show?
Eddie: Sammy and Brandon have written characters that are sort of all over the place in terms of their political
and moral beliefs, and I think they treat everyone with a deep amount of respect and empathy.
They have really worked hard to figure out where these people are coming from. And I think that's
refreshing and really lovely. Jesse: Tell us about the music in the show.
Brandon: It's got a country vibe with, like, enough musical theater to really get the story moving.
So I don't want to, like, limit it though, because if you don't like country music, you'll still like the music in the show.
Jesse: What is it like singing these songs? Claire: The writers and composers are extremely talented. It's very
good music and I can see how "Rent" actually inspired them, because there's some of that sensibility there.
Zack: Obviously, it's a new musical, so these are like new songs, but I just love it.
Jesse: Why is this story important to you? Claire: I think this story is important because it is
important to always be exploring how different sides of culture learn to co-exist.
As with any theatre, I hope that people leave
understanding more about themselves and the world around them.
Stacey: It's exciting that it's a new musical, with musicals being done based on movies or TV shows,
This is a great and exciting piece. And I think everyone will really enjoy it.