To all of our theater performers and their families,
We had such a wonderful summer, creating theater and making magic happen on the stage at the Franklin Opera House. We loved every moment we had with all of our performers from Get Up and Go, Moana and Disaster! For any of you who were able to participate or come and see a performance, we are so glad you shared those moments with us.
As we move into the 2021- 2022 school year, we are unfortunately faced with the continued worry and added stress of covid and doing whatever we possibly can to keep all of our performers safe, while allowing them to continue to perform, and keeping the safety of all of our volunteers and audience patrons in mind as well. It’s a lot to consider on top of the regular stress of just putting a production together.
We have had numerous meetings and discussions with the school, the Opera House and Footlight Boards, as well as other theater organizations in the area and have had to make some decisions. Although these may not be what we had hoped, we feel these are the best steps we can take moving forward to continue to keep all involved safe and also ensure that our productions do not get shut down part way through the process and never get to be shared with a live audience.
We are hoping that in the spring, we can return to more normalcy and run our K-12 District Wide musical program where we can bring in all of our students and have over 100 of them performing together at the Historic Opera House. We also plan to run our FACT programs in the summer of 2022 providing our children in Franklin with additional opportunities to be on stage.
At this time, this is how we are proceeding:
MATILDA: Matilda (a school production) was originally cast in Jan. of 2020 but was shut down in March of 2020. We have tried to bring this show back four times since then and will be producing it this fall. However, due to current circumstances, we can only offer this opportunity to children who are in grades 6-12. Masks will be required during rehearsals and most likely, performance masks will be used during the show. We apologize to any of our cast members who were a part of this production in 2020 and are not yet in grade 6. Sadly, it is impossible to bring over 100 children into that space together at this time.
Those who were already cast should reach out to Mrs. Finley and confirm whether they are continuing or not. They do NOT need to re-audition. However, any children who were not originally a part of this production can attend auditions on either Sept. 14 OR 16 at 5 pm at the Opera House! More audition information will be available on the school website soon.
ELF the Musical: This is a Footlight Community Theater production. They are mandating vaccines for any performers 12 and up. Children who are under 12 are welcome to audition, but will be required to wear a mask at all times, including during the performances.
All auditions for this production are open and run either Sept. 14 or 16 at 7 pm. Please see their website- www.franklintheater.org for more information.