OHS theater group opens 2023-24 season

Oct. 25—OTTUMWA — After the sophisticated and well-received musical "11 O'Clock" last spring, Jeff Leonard retreated backward to a younger time.

"I wouldn't call it 'simple,' he said with a grin. "It's more kid-friendly."

"A light-hearted show," said senior Xander Johnson.

Indeed, the Ottumwa High School theater troupe is harkening back to childhood days as it performs "Charlotte's Web" to open the 2023-24 performance season Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m. and 7 p.m.) at the OHS auditorium. The cast of 16 will re-enact one of the classic children's novels, but nothing about it is easy.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.

Ten of the actors will be playing animals during the two-act, 90-minute performance.

"There's a goose and a gander. I told those actors, 'You're going to need to figure out to a goose and a gander move. Your costume has a big, kind of a bigger rear end to it, and you're going to need to waddle. Do you know how to do that?' said Leonard, the theater director, recalling conversations with the actors.

"I asked them to put themselves in the shoes of characters in the show that are humans, and put themselves in the shoes of the audience and how (the actors) would see it if they were sitting out there."

Johnson was not one of those who will be playing an animal during the three-performance show. He is playing Lurvy, a stable boy.

"My farm adopts the pig, and I like work for the guy that owns the farm, and I just take care of the pig, give it its breakfast, and just have this really childlike energy," he said. "It's almost like I'm an 8-year-old kid even though I'm supposed to be an adult."

Johnson had one of the main parts in "11 O'Clock," which was written by former OHS student Roderick Rath. This play, for its novelty, has been a bit of a change.

"I wouldn't say the show is easier, but we're able to get examples of how other people have played the characters, as opposed to originating the roles," he said. "With this show, the characters are more fun. I'm playing just an energetic little stable boy as opposed to the heavy topics like murder and stuff.

"It's just a little more fun."

Leonard said the play hadn't been performed by the high school since 1990, and he remembered seeing it. But he felt the time was right for it to come back.

"I read this book when I was in grade school, and it's just remained a classic piece of children's literature," he said. "It's actually in Ottumwa schools' curriculum right now for some first grade. So I think the timing was right for us to do this, because everybody knows the story."

He added that performing "Charlotte's Web" is a break from some of the edgier material performed recently.

"Because the story is so beloved, we don't want to screw it up," he said. "Xander is right that the heavier shows about murder and very dramatic shows can be a lot of fun. But these types of shows with very animated and colorful characters that kids of all ages recognize are fun in their own way. I like to give our actors different opportunities to act and grow and learn.

"We can't play the same character all the time."

Actors have been rehearsing since August, while the OHS auditorium undergoes renovations. New seating and lighting are already in place as part of a larger renovation, which isn't complete.

"One of the next phases is going to be stage expansion and theatrical lighting," Leonard said. "It looks different now, and it's really going to look different in the next couple years.

The show kicks off the theater group's season; in the spring, OHS will perform "The Prom," which Leonard calls a "very high-energy musical." It is scheduled to be performed April 12-14.

"There is a movie version of this on Netflix, and it's about a town in Indiana that's going to have a prom, but one of the girls is going to ask her girlfriend to the prom. The PTA steps in, that it's opposite-sex only, so they cancel it," Leonard explained. "So a group of washed-up celebrites come to the town on her behalf and try to turn things around and make a big mess of everything.

"It obviously has a happy ending, but it's a different type of show for us. I'm really excited that we got the rights to do it and I think people are really going to enjoy it."

He estimated there will be about a cast of 30 for that performance, with auditions starting before winter break.

Advance tickets for the spring performance will soon go on sale at ottumwahs.ludus.com. Tickets for Friday's and Saturday's performances also are available on the website.

— Chad Drury can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter @ChadDrury