2009.10.28
THEY CHOSE ME! A musical about adoption: A special way to be “born” into a family
The theater group that brought the musical “Children of Eden” (COE) to Roanoke two years in a row (2007-2008), “Logos Theatricus") will bring even more children into the spotlight on Nov. 5. 6 and 7 at the Dickinson auditorium of the brand-new William Fleming High School when the group presents another musical, this one titled “They Chose Me!“
“Logos Theatricus”, translated from the Latin as “Theatre of the Word”, will celebrate November as National Adoption Month (with Nov. 21st as National Adoption Day”) with a New York production featuring 23 local Roanoke young people ages nine to 19, with Anette Lloyd, an art teacher at Fleming who played Mama Noah in COE, as their 25-year old mentor, who is herself an adoptee. Those who saw that musical will remember Anette’s powerful solo that brought down the house in the last act.
Originally a one-hour one-act play, the show has gone to a 90-minute two-act production because the show’s authors have written four new songs for it and asked “Logos Theatricus” to premiere them. The authors will attend the Roanoke production, to the delight of producer Patrick Kennerly (Papa Noah in COE) , Fleming’s Larry Van Deventer, and musical director Dan Keeley of Our Lady of Nazareth (OLN) Parish, where “Logos Theatricus” originated about six years ago. Gracie Moore is the choreographer and Patricia Kennerly is Stage Manger, no small job with all those young ones to keep up with. OLN's teen piano prodigy Ryan Hunter is the lead instrumentalist
Authors are Michael Colby is a teacher whose family owned the Algonquin Hotel, a famous watering hole for New York notables, for almost 50 years, and Ned Paul Ginsburg who, with his wife, have adopted children themselves. When their idea for this joyous musical came the attention of Janine Nina Trevens, artistic director of NYC’s TADA! Youth Theatre, she immediately commissioned it for TADA’s! youth ensemble, where staff from Theatrical Rights Worldwide (who license Monty Python's "Spamalot", who soon offered it onstage themselves.
In this play, the children, who were recruited from public and private elementary, middle and high schools, as well as dance schools and performing arts studios, share their experiences of foster care and adoption with songs and stories that the producers promise will be both humorous and poignant. Says Producer Kennerly, “ We hope the audience will leave the theatre with a new, heartfelt understanding of adoption and a new appreciation of all children who not only must struggle and strive for their own identity but for their very survival.”
As always with this group, proceeds will go to various charities, this time “Kids ‘N Krisis", a local charity founded and operated by social workers from the Roanoke Dept. of Social Services, and the Childrens' Home Society of Virginia, which has been placing children in permanent adoptive homes since 1906.
Tickets, which can be obtained at OLN, calling 774-0066, Ext.10, or by emailing LogosTheatricus@cox.net. are $12 for adults and $10 for students with a student ID. Show time on all three days is 7:30 p.m.
Submitted by: Donna Acquaviva
