By: Cali Godwin
McPherson College Theatre began to wrap up the 2018-19 season with the school production of “Oliver” the musical. “Oliver”, takes place in the 1800s, and is based off of the popular Charles Dickens book “Oliver Twist”. McPherson College partnered with Washington Elementary for the production. Fourth and fifth grader played orphans and pick pocketers in the first act. “Oliver” acted as one of Washington Elementary schools’ productions as well. Thursday March 7 was the soft opening, where parents and family of the students were welcome to watch the show. Friday March 8, and Saturday March 9 was open for anyone to attend. For quite a few McPherson College students, this was their first theatre production at McPherson College. But for senior Scarlet Rodriquez, this was her first show ever. “I definitely wish I would have been involved in theatre before this show. I had so much fun rehearsing, singing, and watching it all come together.” The cast was not only filled with students from both McPherson and Washington, a few of McPherson College’s faculty, like Julia Largent and Allan van Asselt, made an appearance in the musical as well. With her background as a Zumba instructor, junior Kylie Martin had the opportunity to choreograph the whole musical. “It was really fun to choreograph musical theatre because I haven’t done that before. It was also really refreshing for me since I haven’t choreographed anything since I was in high school”. The musical brought in many people from the campus community, as well as the McPherson community. Make sure to keep an eye out for the next Theatre production from McPherson College.
