Kevin Murray, Interim Director
Lauren Fraites as Bella and Jessica Barraclough as Rebecca with the cast of Rags at our recent ARTS by George! Photography by Exposure
At an early rehearsal of Rags we invited guests, including Friends of Theater Board members, marketing staff, and others. Director Rick Davis went around the room and asked everyone to introduce themselves, stating who they were, where they were from, and which role they were portraying. The artistic team of Rick Davis, Musical Director Joe Walsh, and Choreographer (and Theater alumnus) Ahmad Maaty had gathered a large, international, multi-cultural company of talented young performers, stage managers, assistant directors, and designers. It was thrilling to hear students talk of being from throughout Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, and even Brazil and Bahrain.
The casting process began the same week as the start of classes. Two evenings of auditions, a dance and movement audition, and an afternoon of callbacks culminated in a casting meeting among all the directors for our fall season of plays. By Labor Day, students began to understand what their semester was going to look like. Rags is unique compared to traditional Mason Players productions, and not just because it is a musical. It will be performed in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall, so the scenery and lighting are more complex, the cast is large (37!) and must be costumed and mic’d, and there are many more seats to fill than in our other venues. The show has professional designers–Lighting Designer Martha Mountain, Set Designer Debra Sivigny, who is also on our design faculty, and Costume Designer Laurel Dunayer, who also manages our costume shop. The show will involve ten musicians–six in the orchestra pit and four onstage, who will be in costume and strolling through the 1910 New York street scenes.
When you attend Rags, you will experience more than just a slice of history come to life and set to music. You will see a panoply of new arrivals to America that spans the last 160 years (pay close attention to the costumes aboard the ship in the opening scene), and a reflection of discussions, attitudes, prejudices, and assumptions that still are part of our everyday lives and newsfeeds.
Welcome to America. Welcome to Rags.
Kevin Murray
Interim Director, School of Theater