{"id":26074,"date":"2024-08-17T22:48:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T04:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-theater-departments-plan-musicals-plays-this-school-year\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:33:24","slug":"montezuma-cortez-theater-departments-plan-musicals-plays-this-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-theater-departments-plan-musicals-plays-this-school-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez theater departments plan musicals, plays this school year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Cortez Middle School Drama Program rehearses for their production of \u201cTreasure Island\u201d in 2014. This year, the high school with perform the play in March. (Journal file photo)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

In the Montezuma-Cortez school district, theater gives students and staff the chance to bring new worlds to life each school year. From the acting to music to sets and costumes, students express their creativity, get out of their comfort zones and bring a project to life.<\/p>\n

Each year, staff choose which plays and musicals will be given to students, and this year\u2019s roster promises exciting performances.<\/p>\n

Normally, the high school has a play in the fall and a musical in the spring, while the middle school performs a musical in the fall and a play in the spring, but this year, the schools are switching it up.<\/p>\n

The high school will perform the musical \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d in the fall and the play \u201cTreasure Island\u201d in the spring, while the middle school has chosen \u201cOne Stoplight Town\u201d for the fall and the musical \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d in the spring.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., middle school students will perform \u201cOne Stoplight Town,\u201d and MCHS students will perform the musical \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d on Nov. 7, Nov. 14, Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 8 and Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

According to CMS theater teacher Angela Gabardi and choir teacher Marla Sitton, \u201cOne Stoplight Town\u201d is a comedy about a small town.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really cute story about a small town, which our students can relate to,\u201d Gabardi said. \u201cSometimes we try to pick performances that connect. The \u2018Wizard of Oz\u2019 and \u2018One Stoplight Town\u2019 is a lot about home and the treasures of home and your community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabardi each new year is exciting as they imagine how the students will shine in their roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you read a show and you start getting excited like, \u2018Oh, the kids would love this, the kids would have so much fun,\u2019\u201d Gabardi said.<\/p>\n

High school Theater Program Director Nicholaus Sandner said the dates offered for \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d are unusual because they are accommodating a major band competition that will take place on the musical\u2019s opening weekend. They also chose to do a musical first because of the play\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to do \u2018Beauty and the Beast\u2019 because the rights are not going to be available after December, because it\u2019s looking to make a comeback to Broadway,\u201d Sandner said. \u201cSo, we had to flip-flop things. We\u2019re actually starting off with our musical in the fall, and they\u2019re (CMS) doing their musical in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auditions for \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d will take place Tuesday, and community members are invited to audition for a part.<\/p>\n

In the spring, the middle school will perform the musical \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. and March 1 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

The last time the middle school chose \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d as their play, Sitton directed and Gabardi played Dorothy. Sitton and Gabardi said it felt like a full-circle moment to be working on the play together as partners when the last time was as teacher and student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special to Marla and I because that\u2019s the play we did my senior year, and she was my director,\u201d Gabardi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngela was my Dorothy,\u201d Sitton said.<\/p>\n

To Sitton, seeing the students\u2019 growth is her favorite part of being involved in the local theater programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like watching their growth. It\u2019s always amazing to me,\u201d Sitton said. \u201cYou\u2019ll have a student come in that is so quiet and shy, and they\u2019re not even sure they want to be in the same room, let alone on stage, and then they\u2019re like, \u2018I have to say that on stage? I have to sing and I have to dance and I have to wear that?\u2019 And then, they just do it, and they grow more than they could ever imagine that they could grow, and then they become these confident young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The high schoolers will perform \u201cTreasure Island\u201d on March 7, March 8, March 14 and March 15 at 7 p.m. The plan a matinee March 8 and March 15 at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s
Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Narrative Ninjas perform for elementary school students in April. (Nicholaus Sandner\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other opportunities for theater students<\/p><\/div>\n

Besides main stage plays, Sandner shared that high schoolers have the opportunity to participate in the school\u2019s improv troupe and go to ThesCon in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to provide a lot of opportunities in a lot of different ways for students to get involved in the performing arts,\u201d Sandner said.<\/p>\n

Students can also be part of the Narrative Ninjas.<\/p>\n

The Narrative Ninjas are a group of high school students that visit elementary schools as ninjas and help the children write a story. After a few weeks, the ninjas come back for a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey write us stories that we collect up, then we come back a couple weeks later and we perform the stories,\u201d Sandner said. \u201cWe celebrate the kids and we bring them up and we dub them honorary ninjas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

includes \u2018Beauty and the Beast,\u2019 \u2018Treasure Island,\u2019 \u2018One Stoplight Town\u2019 and \u2018Wizard of Oz\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[363,1060,21,147,28,60,36,216,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-middle-school","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79215,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26074\/revisions\/79215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26074"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}