Electrifying folk-opera meets love stories
The young talent of our region was on display at Wakatipu High School last week as students took on HADESTOWN Teen Edition. The school teamed up with StageAntics to bring the bold folk-opera that intertwines two mythic love stories to the stage. It featured 19 students in the cast and six crew.
Emma Bishop is behind StageAntics, a performing arts company, and the president of Musical Theatre New Zealand, which is the association for community theatre. She got in touch with Jake Hansen at Wakatipu High School when she wanted to produce the teen edition of Six, The Musical, but the license was only available to schools.
“I reached out to Jake and made the suggestion that we bring it to Waikapu and give the senior students studying performing arts, technology and drama, a real live show for them to base their assessments,” Bishop says. “It was a huge success last year, and I’m extremely excited to be back working with the students again this year on HADESTOWN Teen Edition.”
The show followed two mythic love stories — young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and the powerful, complicated bond between Hades and Persephone. Set in a world where industry rules and hope is a radical act, Orpheus journeys to the underworld to rescue Eurydice, armed with nothing but his music and an unshakable belief that love can light the darkest places.
StageAntics co-produced the show and were the artistic team behind the production – Bishop was musical director, Zoe Fraser was choreographer, and then two StageAntics whānau members and students from Wakatipu, Indy Hamilton and Jessica Fitzgerald, have been acting as student choreographer and student musical director on the ground.
“Students have also been having weekly Zoom one-to-one lessons with me working on the direction and music. We have had three Weekend intensive, including this last week of the school holidays.”
Bishop describes the arts department at the high school as passionate and committed to giving the students opportunities beyond the four walls of the classroom. She says the outcomes speak for themselves with many children getting involved last year and this year – even looking to studying performing arts beyond school. When the show for this year was first announced, the students were familiar with the musical and very excited to get behind it.
“The fact that they are the first people to do it here in central Otago is really exciting. The music is really stunning. Also working with people outside of their community, giving them new experiences has been a challenge but is really exciting for them.”
StageAntics will be back in October for their annual Show in a Week programme at the Memorial Hall. Last year they took on Sister Act Jr, with this year’s show still to be announced – registrations are now open and information is available at stageantics.nz
