{"id":29184,"date":"2024-02-17T01:19:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T08:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-theater-program-to-host-play-curtains-in-march\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:50:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:50:47","slug":"cortez-middle-school-theater-program-to-host-play-curtains-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-middle-school-theater-program-to-host-play-curtains-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Middle School theater program to host play \u2018Curtains\u2019 in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cCurtains\u201d
\u201cCurtains\u201d cast and crew. (Angela Gabardi\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

On March 1 and 2, the Montezuma-Cortez Middle School theater program will perform \u201cCurtains,\u201d a fast-paced comedy that promises to entertain all who attend.<\/p>\n

The performance will take place at the main gym in the middle school. The Friday, March 1 performance will take place at 7 p.m., and there will be 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. time slots on Saturday, March 2.<\/p>\n

The play was written by Craig Sodaro, and is being used with permission from the Pioneer Drama Service.<\/p>\n

According to theater program director and teacher Angela Gabardi, auditions and \u201ccreative circles\u201d took place right before Christmas break.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie
Charlie Leach (Preston Tanner) is confronted by the Flowers \u2013 Katy Meek, Kanyin Palmer, Afton Nielson and Macie McDonald. Angela Gabardi\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cSo about two weeks before Christmas break, we did auditions, and then we did our read-through,\u201d Gabardi said. \u201cAfter that, we talked a little bit about the ideas we wanted to see with the show. We call them our creative circles. Those just give everybody a chance to share ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The slapstick-style show follows the newly married couple Cheri and Charlie Leach, played by Addalynn Nielson and Preston Tanner, as they are being chased by Tony Tenor, played by Oliver Owens, and his accomplices the Flowers, played by Katy Meeks, Kanyin Palmer, Afton Nielson and Macie McDonald.<\/p>\n

To get Tony Tenor off his back, Charlie Leach needs to pay Tony $50,000. He comes up with a plan to buy an old theater with his and his new wife\u2019s honeymoon money. With his friend Professor Quirk, played by Costner Hernandez, they plan to blow up the theater and collect the insurance money.<\/p>\n

\"Preston
Preston Tanner (left), who plays Charlie Leach, with Addalynn Nielson (Cheri Leach) and Assistant Director Grace Noyes. (Angela Gabardi\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before they can implement their grand scheme, a troupe led by Cheri Leach\u2019s aunt Isabella, played by Aubriana Trujillo, arrives at the theater to produce the show \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d which stars the only male in the all-female troupe cast, Mr. Krook, played by Logan Tamminga.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything goes wrong, thus creating a fast-paced, hilarious, slapstick-style adventure, including a ghost and a very enthusiastic theater critic (Landon Hurst),\u201d Gabardi said.<\/p>\n

During the audition process, Gabardi, who has been leading the program for 10 years, said she looked for students who could be bold, goofy, make creative choices and accept feedback.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cCurtains\u201d
\u201cCurtains\u201d sound crew Isabel Caciagli, Aspen Head, and Steven Flye. (Angela Gabardi\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe looked for students who are willing to be goofy and make big choices, as well as test how kids take direction, because it\u2019s really important in a show like this to make sure that even when you\u2019re making big choices, you can also take feedback,\u201d Gabardi said.<\/p>\n

They also tested student chemistry with each other, specifically for the \u201cmarried\u201d couple and the troupe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were also doing little chemistry tests, which are not like you know, super-romantic because we\u2019re in middle school, but how people react with each other on stage, how they communicate on stage and kind of just seeing who can make choices together as well,\u201d Gabardi added.<\/p>\n

Students performing in the play emphasized how play has brought all of them closer together as friends and even family.<\/p>\n

Hernandez, who is in eighth grade, said, \u201cMy favorite thing about the show so far is everyone making new friends,\u201d said eighth grader Hernandez. \u201cI have been watching, and I have noticed that some of the people who didn\u2019t \u2018fit in\u2019 as much as the rest soon found their group and their family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the show is about how love can survive through almost anything just as long as both people are willing to work for it. The audience is going to like it because of all the comedy,\u201d said Charlie Bragg, who plays Angela Angel. \u201cMy favorite part of this show is rehearsing and getting to make all of these inside jokes with my new theater friends. I am very excited for the Frankenstein laboratory table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students also emphasized that the audience will enjoy a fun show.<\/p>\n

Sixth grader Palmer, who plays Tulip, said, \u201cI think the audience will enjoy the show, because of how funny it is, and just the show in total. It has many fun elements to it, that I think the audience will love to see in action. My favorite thing about this show is probably how funny it is. It makes me laugh out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addalynn Nielson said that the play \u201chas it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe play has it all: romance, a haunted theater, Frankenstein, money, gangsters and comedy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lisandro Viveros Wells, eighth grade production photographer, spoke of the unique and fun props.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am most excited for the costumes and props because I want to see how everyone will look and how they are going to use their props,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n

Gabardi said the theater program will move their rehearsals and preparations to the main gym on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are building our own stage with a proscenium arch curtain. The students will have a week in the actual space before we open the doors to the community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

More than 70 students are involved, with student actors and a crew that consists of props, sets, set dressing, costumes, hair, makeup, lights, sound, house team, stage management, photographer, assistant tech director and assistant director.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re pretty awesome. We have amazing kids throughout the whole community, but our performing arts kids, band, choir, theater, there\u2019s some rock star kids, so I\u2019m glad we can give them these opportunities,\u201d Gabardi said. \u201cThey get really invested in what they do, and they treat it like a little family. There\u2019s fights, there\u2019s love, there\u2019s laughter, but then you have these awesome teenagers coming together to put it all together to make a show. So it\u2019s pretty cool just to watch their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at mchsdrama.booktix.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

performances will take place the first weekend of March <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,147,28,60,216,29,910],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-cortez-middle-school","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29184","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=29184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80661,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29184\/revisions\/80661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29184"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}