South Peace Historical Society

    • Home
    • About / Contact Us
    • About Dorthea Horton
    • About This Collection
    • Bibliography
    • Brief History of the Peace
    • Credits
    • South Peace Historical Society Archives (External Link)
  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

  •  

BN10-31: South Pacific Keeps Students Busy

Recent History – 2001

Jan. 3, 2000

DAWSON CREEK — For most students at South Peace Secondary School (SPSS), the holiday season means two weeks off.

Not so for those in the SPSS major theatre class. Starting Tuesday, they’ve committed to a schedule of rehearsing for five hours each day in the run-up to their presentation of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.

“This is the time people give up the rest of their lives,” said Fred Klem, SPSS teacher and the show’s director.

South Pacific was chosen, he said, because of the good music but also because it’s about sailors and nurses who are not much older than the students in the production.

“They were maybe five years older, so I thought these are characters that they could identify with. They could convince us that that’s who they are.”

As the title indicates, the show is set on a tropical island in the South Pacific during the Second World War — an exotic world of natives, sailors, nurses, and at least one French plantation owner.

The main cast consists of Joanna Gorton as Nellie Forbush, Ian Mooney as Emile Debeck, Lindsay Molson as Liat, Miguel Eichelberger as Cable, Torunn Landsgaard as Bloody Mary and Dean Nelson as Captain Brackett.

Molson is also in charge of choreography. With help from Kasey Scott and Tatiana Dobrowolski, they’ve developed some dances largely from scratch. As well, Monica Dobrowolski was brought in to help with the Polynesian dancing.

About 50 students are involved in the production. And an orchestra made up of musicians from the community will supply the music.

Well into their first day of practice, the students were upbeat.

“I remember the rehearsals last year were a lot of fun, because you get to hang around with all your friends and do a lot of theatry stuff,” Mooney said.

South Pacific will be performed Jan. 18-20, 8 p.m. start, at Unchagah Hall. Tickets, which are $10 each, are available at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Simple Pleasures, and Shoppers Drug Mart, as well as at the door.

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

« BN10-30: Concert Marks Return of High School Music

BN10-32: Schools Now Drug Free Zones »

© 2023 South Peace Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.