HOLYOKE — This November, the Holyoke High School Theater Company presents “Miss Nelson is Missing!” an adaption of the classic children’s story stage ready for people of all ages looking for a night of songs and laughs.
The show will be running from Wednesday, Nov. 13 to Friday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. with a final show on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. All performances will be staged in the John F. Sears Auditorium at Holyoke High School.
The Jeffrey Hatcher adaption of the timeless children’s story written by Harry Allard and James Marshall finds teacher Miss Nelson unable to control her crazy classroom due to her kindness. But after she disappears, her replacement is the hard-as-nails, detention-loving, recess-canceling, homework-overloading substitute teacher Viola Swamp. With the big test approaching, the kids suddenly realize how much they miss Miss Nelson and they’ll do anything — including hiring a private eye — to solve the mystery of her disappearance.
Theater and media teacher Bevan Brunelle runs the Holyoke High School Theater Company, an after-school club that is an extension of the Performing & Media Arts Academy at Holyoke High. Brunelle explained she wanted to do a family friendly show for the fall production to start the year having not done one last year.
Brunelle added the first show of the school year typically involves more newer students to the program so they can gain experience, while the second show typically brings out the more tenured performers of the program. She said the wide variety of actors in the show has helped create a foundation for the program that has students coming back.
“We have kids that have been with me the whole time and some students are just freshman now. By the time they graduate, they’ve taken on different leadership roles whether its props, costumes, acting in the show, sometimes its lighting designing or sound designing so everybody kind of tries different things and sees what works for them best,” Brunelle said.
The cast and crew of this production involves students from grades 9-12 including Jasiel Abreu Molina, Darius Baez, Eben Beaudry, Jaslyanna Dasilva, Neveah Dasilva, Danaliz Davila, Aidan Fontanez-Courchesne, Talitha Hernandez, Kaylie Lopez, Flynn Maldonado and Ivan Rivera.
Junior student Jasiel Abreu Molina, who is playing Principal Humleker, told Reminder Publishing Brunelle has given him the confidence to take on this role as someone still new to theater.
“This is my first time being in a production, but I have been in her past media classes,” Abreu Molina said. “I just like how her strictness really forces us to do well. I like how she pushes us to do well, and it keeps us on top of things especially with the show being so close so we can do the best we can.”
Sophomore Maya Rodriguez is tasked with lighting design duties for this production, another experience added to her early work in production work that started when she was a freshman.
“My first show I was actually stage manager because we were low on a few people, so it was really a lot of learning how everything works and then ordering other people around. Then my second show I was working lights, just learning like an apprenticeship and now this show again I’m running the lights,” Rodriguez said.
Advance tickets are $10 for general admission, and $5 for student and staff tickets. Advance tickets are available at the Holyoke High School Main Office and online at mifafestival.org/events. Online fees apply. No exchanges.
Online ticket sales will end at 5 p.m. on Nov. 12, but same-day tickets will be available at each performance for $5 for students and HPS staff, and $15 for General Admission. This production has been made possible by the generous support of MIFA and Victory Theater.
Brunelle said MIFA has been a terrific partner for the school’s theater company and hopes to continue their partnership into the future as the organization continues its growth in the city and prepares the reopening of the Victory Theatre.
“Year after year they just keep coming back and sponsoring us and supporting us,” Brunelle said. “They really love the arts in Holyoke, and they want students to be involved in as much as they can so we wouldn’t be able to do this without people like them and other sponsors we’ve had in the past.”
