The Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) is celebrating ten years of musical theatre this April with a new musical, TEN!, that combines the best of the musical performances to grace Huntsville stages: Shrek, Seussical, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie, Aida, The Music Man, Guys & Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Drowsy Chaperone.
To help promote the event, the Festival invited grade six, seven and eight students from nine local schools to create interactive posters showcasing those past performances.
“We had a stand-up poster for Shrek that people could take photos with,” said Carol Gibson, one of the HFA’s Directors. “It was popular and our Education Committee thought that asking students to create similar posters for TEN! would be a great idea. It encompasses both the art and marketing components of their curriculum.”
Four students from each school – Huntsville Public, Irwin Memorial, Muskoka Christian School, Pine Glen, Riverside, Saint Mary’s, Spruce Glen, Tawingo College, and VK Greer – worked together to create two posters for one of Huntsville’s past musicals. The students had creative control over their posters and the results are colourful representations of the themes of each show.
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- Spruce Glen students (foreground from left) Allyson Jones, Maddie Witterick, Emma Punkari; (back from left) Brandon Maw and Carson MacInnis work on their Fiddler on the Roof posters
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- Rhiannon Stephenson (left) and Lauren Robinson from Riverside work on Guys and Dolls
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- St Mary’s students Nathan Decaro and Dominic Langowski put the finishing touches on their Shrek poster
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- (From left) Amber Kerr, Madison Stead, Sydney Brinklow and Sally Franks from VK Greer work on their posters of Annie
One poster from each school will be displayed somewhere in the community for passersby to take photos with; the other will remain in the school for students to do the same. But first, they will all be on display at a special Huntsville Festival of the Arts event.
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- Luna Black (left) and Millie Cassie-Batchelor from Huntsville Public work on the Wizard of Oz
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- Huntsville Public students Adi Dalziel (left) and Hanna Harris work on Wizard of Oz
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- Tawingo College students (from left) Zak Varieur, David Laughton, Hayden Phillips and Teresa Dennyzboyovsky work on a poster for Seussical
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- Pine Glen students (from left) Nate Leney, Wilson Babineau, Grace Gates and Morgan Smith working on the Drowsy Chaperone
The Festival didn’t want to leave adults in the community out of the artsy fun, so on March 31 from 5-7pm, they are hosting an adult colouring event at Partners Hall at the Algonquin Theatre. The posters will be displayed for creative inspiration, and the HFA will provide everyone with colouring pencils, a booklet to colour, and a few appetizers. Drinks will be availbale for purchase. (See the poster below for details on the event.)
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- Evan Coombs (left) and Mackenzie Carare from Irwin Memorial work on Peter Pan
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- Ethan Fougere and Josiah Murphy from Muskoka Christian School work on Shrek
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- Muskoka Christian School students Luke Murphy (left) and Elise Knight work on Aida
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- Dale Shewfelt (left) and Emma Magee from Irwin Memorial work on Peter Pan
TEN! is a joint production of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and the Rotary Club of Huntsville. The show runs from April 15-17 and April 21-23 at the Algonquin Theatre. Tickets are available online or at the Algonquin Theatre box office.
Kudos to you all! Great work!
Check out this great story about art students getting involved in a musical theater production in Huntsville!