By Grant Flora and Alexis Podgers
The Indiana Wesleyan University Theatre Guild hosted a matinee performance of their spring musical for local elementary students last Thursday.
The Guild performed “Seussical”, an adaptation of different popular stories from Dr. Seuss. At 9:30 a.m., elementary students from across the county piled into the Philippe Performing Arts Center to experience the creativity of IWU’s theatre students.
“For some of them, life is hard and to be able to come to see a show which they probably would never get to do any other way … is a gift to them,” Dr. Lisa Moore, the director of the production, said. “We know also that these are probably future students, some of them, and we have students in the cast who grew up in the Grant County school system.”
These memories could prove to be impactful for these students, just like they were for some of the current “Seussical” cast. One of the cast members, Reagan Hummel, said she could remember the first musical she watched.
“My first show was watching ‘The Lion King’ on Broadway when I was like, four or five,” Hummel said. “I was laughing so hard, but it really pushed me towards like, ‘oh, maybe I like singing, so let me try this for myself.’”
Moore said “Seussical” provides fun, colors and laughter, but it also teaches important life lessons for the students to internalize. In addition, Moore said the musical holds a special significance for her.
“Interestingly, I was pregnant when I started working here [over 20 years ago] and my son that I had at that time is in the show this year,” Moore said. “He is one of the Wickersham Brothers, and so that has been a long time coming that I have been dreaming about doing the show.”
Caleb Doorlag, who played Horton the Elephant, said more about the life lessons displayed in the show.
“It’ll teach them that we all have our differences as people, and we shouldn’t think of people as weird or think of people as odd or anything like that, because we all have different quirks,” Doorlag said. “I think the show just really brings out individualism, especially in the younger generation.”
The students showed an abundance of enthusiasm during the show, cheering and applauding before, during and after the show. Moore said the responsiveness of the students is one way that this performance benefits the Theatre Guild as well.
Some of the homeschooled students in Grant County also attended the performance. Two of these students, Chloe Jarvis and Josie Hanson, said they were excited for the opportunity to be with friends and hear the music, which is something they don’t experience as regularly.
With “Seussical” lasting for roughly two hours, the Theatre Guild found a way to engage with the students differently.
“Another thing that is different about this show is our cast comes out in costume and greets the kids and takes pictures with them,” Moore said. “We don’t do that with all of our other performances because we know that’s just really meaningful for them to see, it’s magical, and our cast loves it too.”
The cast had to adjust to a different routine in order to accommodate for this specific performance. Hummel said that because the performance was in the morning, the cast had to get up early and bring extra energy to match that of the students.
Moore said the Theatre Guild also made a curriculum for the students to prepare for the show. The curriculum packets were sent out roughly a month before the show.
“Our illustration majors did coloring pages for them,” Moore said. “They’ve been doing Seuss story hours and learning more about the different stories, and we sent them home with stickers, and bookmarks, and just fun little things the teachers have for them.”
Overall, the show provided a unique and special experience for all those involved, including the cast. Hummel said that with the students there, the whole show felt much more like fun, instead of an actual performance.
Moore said that “Seussical” is not the only production they have done for students. She said that there are more productions for Grant County students to attend next year.
