Welcome to Colonial Players Fall Production of The Westing Game!
During my freshman year at Plymouth Whitemarsh, I found a second home – the theatre. I am not sure what hooked me: transforming into someone else, emerging myself into a new world, the sense of community I felt with my peers or maybe the combination of all of these elements into one. What I do know is that with each show, my passion and love for the arts grew.
Each year, I return to PW in the hopes that I can spark a love of the arts in the current students’ hearts. Over the course of the rehearsal process, the actors work on developing characters, identifying their motivation and creating a visible bond with each other on stage. The crew focuses on enhancing these efforts by developing the atmosphere around the actors. Both the cast and crew have spent endless hours in our theatre to bring Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game to life.
Of course, it takes a small army to make a show a success. In addition to me, other fellow alumni have returned to support the Colonial Players program: Melissa Downer (PW Class of ’94) and Jeramie Iannelli (PW Class of ‘03) helped to cultivate the characters and scenes on stage; Peter Kelsey created an atmosphere of mystery with sets and lights, not to mention inspiring a crew to support it; Barb Sharavsky is dedicated to every details that makes our kids look great from head to toe; Eric Scheidly ensured you could hear the hard work of our cast; and Jennifer Crea and Tracey Ambuka managed the overall production. I truly appreciate their time, creativity, dedication and energy to making this, and every show we do, a success. Collectively, the cast, crew and staff continue to uphold the Colonial Players’ tradition of presenting outstanding shows to our community.
Another huge thank you goes to the Colonial School District Administrative Staff and PWHS Faculty and Staff for allowing us to continue creating wonderful shows and memories on PW’s stage, thereby keeping the arts alive. A special thank you goes out to Charlie Forster for his unyielding support of our program and to the PW Music Department and custodial staff for their support of our program. Additionally, I would like to thank the parents of our participating students for supporting the endless hours their sons’ and daughters’ spend at our theatre.
Finally, I would like to thank my husband and parents for their love and support as I spend countless hours at my second home. They continue to cheer me on as I explore my love of theatre.
Please join us again for this show and for our spring production of Aida in March 2016. If you enjoy this show, please encourage your friends to see it; just don’t tell them that the Colonel Mustard did it in the library with the rope. BOOM!
Now, unwrap that last piece of candy, turn off your cell phones, and enjoy the show!
Fondly,
Valerie Cucinotta Collado (’97)
