JCHS hosting concert, plays

After a week of gloomy weather, local students will seek to brighten spirits with their music.

And the thespians will follow with some light-hearted performances of their own.

The Jay County High School Patriot Band’s Mid-Winter Pops Concert is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, and Jay County Thespians will follow with its “Night of One Acts” at 7 p.m. March 3.

A pops concert features popular music and show tunes in addition to well-known classical works, and the JCHS freshman, 10 through 12 and combined bands will draw from both movies and the stage. Beyond that, director Kelly Smeltzer said this particular group allowed a wider range of choices for him and fellow music teacher Pete Vogler.

“We sit down and figure out what tunes would work for these kids,” said Smeltzer. “I just think the skill level of the kids we have right now, they could handle a little more challenging tunes.”

The selections include songs from the Broadway musical “Chicago” as well as a rendition of the Irish tune “Danny Boy.” The combined bands will perform the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The concert will also draw on film scores, with the freshmen playing music from “Star Wars” and “Beverly Hills Cop.”

And one of the more challenging pieces for the combined band will be from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“There’s a lot of meter changes and key changes,” said Smeltzer. “There’s a lot of many voices happening at once. … They’ve really got to make sure they know their part of the show well enough to combine with the other parts to make it happen.”

The “Night of One Acts,” which will be held in room 605 at JCHS, features just that, a pair of one-act plays.

One of those will be “An Actor’s Nightmare,” a Christopher Durang play that debuted in 1981. It features an accountant who is having a nightmare about being an actor and not knowing his lines or what role he’s playing.

The other will be an original work by JCHS senior Mackenzie Currie called “The Making of a Superhero.” It is about a group of people who are choosing what their superhero names should be based on their strengths and weaknesses.

The focus on the evening is putting the performances in the hands of the JCHS thespians. Senior Evan Jackson will direct “An Actor’s Nightmare” while Curry will lead her original work.

“The kids are totally in charge of ‘Night of One Acts,’” said JCHS theatre instructor Carol Gebert. “They cast it, direct it, produce it. They are in charge of everything.”