Fostoria students to present 'Cinderella' next week

FOSTORIA — It's the season for underdog basketball teams to be labeled Cinderellas when they unexpectedly win.And students from Fostoria Junior/Senior High School will remind folks where the expression came from when they perform a musical version of "Cinderella" next weekend in the school's Wainwright Performing Arts Center.Nearly everyone learns the fairy tale early in life, and it's been adapted to the stage and screen numerous times. Fostoria's show is based on the 1974 Broadway version, which is a rewrite of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein TV presentation of 1957."It's really fun," first-year director Samantha Weimerskirch said in a recent interview. "... It's really fun for the kids."Performances are scheduled for 6 p.m., on Friday and Saturday, with a Sunday matinee set for 3 p.m. Tickets are priced at $10 each for adults, $7 each for senior citizens and school staff members and $5 for students under age 18. Youngsters age 3 and under will be admitted free.Weimerskirch is familiar with Fostoria theater, having acted in several shows before graduating in 2016. She later directed some community theater projects while taking college classes in Virginia. "Cinderella" is her first musical undertaking as a director."It's new for me, too, a little bit," she said. "But I have a good team working with me. Everyone's supportive and everyone is good at working together."She added: "I'm very excited for it. One of my favorite things to do is being involved in theater. I used to, like, really, performing it. That's really fun, but I'm finding as I'm getting older that I like directing it and finding little gems in all the kids and getting them and their personalities on stage."It's not necessarily an easy project for the students involved, as they integrate such tasks as memorizing lines and song lyrics into their studies and other activities. But after getting started in late December, they're making it work and enjoying how it's coming together for public consumption.Senior Jazzlyn Smith, who plays the role of the evil stepmother, is one of the cast's more experienced members, having been in several shows before moving into the Fostoria district last year."From my perspective, I feel like it's going well," said Smith, who plans to major in English education and minor in theater in college. "I really enjoy the types of friendships and relationships I've made with Sam and our other directors. I think it's really something, like, magical, because the set has been really unique and well put together and I enjoy watching it be made."I enjoy watching everybody learn and be able to put their lines into a show and be able to use expression in saying their lines now because at first it was just, like, trying to read a book. Now, it's like we're actually showing expression and we're showing our emotions in our acting and it's really nice to see."Sophomore Cameron Bentz and junior Alicia Ceravolo were surprised to be tapped for the roles of Prince Topher and Cinderella, respectively."It was a pretty interesting start," Bentz said. "I didn't want to have the lead role at first. I auditioned in back of the lead role, so it was surprising. And I'm just now coming to terms with how much pressure there is to learn everything. You've got to learn a lot more stuff than I thought you had to. Then you start locking in. I want to perform well."Said Ceravolo: "I wasn't even going to audition; my friend kind of forced me to come. I'm really grateful that she did because this has been an amazing experience. I think Cameron has been one of the people I've seen the most improvement in and I think that really shows his work ethic."Other actors with character roles are Sophia Brose, Winnie Cobb, Ella Holmes, Chloe Kitchen, Jeremiah Quiroz and Brin Weidner. Ensemble members are Natalie Caudill, Imani Camp, August Ceravolo, Eli Deuble, Willow Dutcher, Zooey Dutcher, Royal Ferguson, Adelayde Guernsey, Dakota Howe and Iry Turner.The stage crew includes Robert Blanton, Rosalee Brickner, Caudill, Olivia Colvin, Zooey Dutcher, Jordan Fairley, Ash Fonseca, Ciarah Nyamwaro, Myra Sauval and Zkarah Tucker.Alaina Conlin is Weimerskirch's assistant director, while Eric Kauffman is the choreographer, Eva Crabtree is handling set design and costuming, Dan St. Clair is the set constructor and Kai Roberts is the rehearsal accompanist.