Choir, thespians teaming on 'Grease'

Attendance for Jay County High School’s musicals has been low for years.
Ticket sales have not brought in enough money to cover the cost of production.
Faced with the possibility of eliminating musicals altogether, a decision was made to try a new format this year in hopes of catching “Greased Lightning” in a bottle.
For the first time, the Jay County Thespians are teaming with members of the school’s choirs to put on a musical. Their selection is the 1971 musical “Grease,” which was later made famous in movie format starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
The directors, Susan Denney, Jan Rittenhouse, Ric VanSkyock and Carol Knarr Gebert, are hoping the iconic show — performances are slated for 7 p.m. Nov. 4 and 5 and 2 p.m. Nov. 6 — saves musicals for JCHS.
“If we don’t do it and get enough revenue coming in, they have to be canceled,” said Denney. “It’s a $4,000 cost just to get the rights — the copyrights and the music and the scripts and the recordings and all of it.”
In addition to attendance being low for previous musicals, participation was as well. Part of that was logistical.
JCHS Thespians meet after school, a format that severely limited the potential talent pool. Students who were involved in athletics or other extra-curricular activites, or who had after-school jobs, weren’t able to commit to rehearsals.
So the decision was made in the spring to incorporate the musical as part of the choir classes, which Rittenhouse and Denney teach during the final period of the school day.
That change would guarantee daily time to work on the musical, thus requiring after-school rehearsals only in the few weeks leading up to the performance.
It was a change that initially met with some resistance.
Senior Jamie Valentine, a veteran of the school’s choirs, thought the idea was crazy. Alec Hutchison, who had been involved as a thespian in the past, agreed.
“To be honest, before I started working with these people I didn’t really like the idea,” said the senior who plays the male lead, Danny, opposite Valentine’s Sandy. “But afterward, just working with these people, working with the high energies, I love it so much. It’s fantastic. Every day I feel happy about coming here.”
“Everybody has their own different personality. They all have their own chemistry from working together (previously), so when you get all of them together trying to work for the same goal … it’s just so much energy. Everybody is just always so pumped to get it done. I’m really enjoying this.”
That high energy is apparent at rehearsals, during which the JCHS auditorium is constantly buzzing with activity. That’s partially because there are more than 90 students involved, including East Jay Middle School eighth graders who are part of the chorus.
During some songs, 85 students will share the stage at the same time.
“They’re excited,” said Denney.
“Especially after they learned the dances and put the music with it,” added Rittenhouse. “Once they learned that, they’re so excited. They’re on fire.”
Working with all of those students has been a collaboration for the directors, with Denney taking charge of the stage performance, Rittenhouse leading the chorus, VanSkyock handling the choreography and Gebert organizing the set design and construction. They’ve also had to teach the basics of theatre to choir students who have never performed in a musical before.
That’s the case for Valentine, who said she had never even thought about trying out for plays. So when she auditioned, with some prodding from Denney, she was shocked to earn the lead role.
One of her biggest challenges has been realizing that, unlike show choir, there is not choreography for everything.
“I think the first couple of practices when we did 'Summer Nights,' I was like, what am I supposed to be doing during this part?” she said. “And they were like, 'Just be Sandy.' And I was like, 'What does that mean? What do you want me to do?'”
So she’s been working to put her own stamp on the iconic role, as has Hutchison.
“I can promise you I’m not going to be as good as John Travolta,” he joked, “but I’m certainly going to try my best.”
That’s the simple goal for those in the production, to do the best show they can and hope the community gets behind them.
The funding for “Grease” came in the form of a loan from the school corporation, and the car prop was donated by the theatre group at Coldwater (Ohio) High School. But in the future, ticket sales will need to be able to support show costs.
“We’re basically doing a bit of a trial run here,” said Denney, estimating a need to sell 850 tickets over the three-show run. “We’re hoping the community falls in love with it and comes and supports us so that we can continue.”