One big family

Seymour students will hit the stage this week with their production of Sister Act — a musical comedy based on the 1992 film.

The show follows Deloris, who is put in protective custody in a convent after witnessing her boyfriend, Curtis, commit a murder.

And much like Deloris grows close to her fellow sisters during her time at the convent, the musical cast and crew have developed tight-knit relationships throughout the production process.

“I think the most fun thing is getting to meet everybody and the community it provides,” said Hailey Marcks, a senior doing tech for the show. “It’s just really nice to be able to work with everybody, especially when the cast and tech eventually come together and work together. It’s just a really fun environment.”

For many students in the show, their involvement starts before they hit high school.

“A lot of these kids have been doing this since seventh grade, so you can really start to learn and know the kids,” said Head Director Teresa Lemke. “I would say we are a huge family. We sometimes get on each other’s nerves like a family does and I have to remind them that we’ve got to give each other grace. If someone’s driving you nuts, you’re probably driving someone else nuts because we just spend so much time together.”

“It’s actually really great,” said Lincoln Mursau, who plays one of Curtis’ henchmen in the show. “We have a bunch of new people that came to our musical this year, so it’s great to teach them how to be a part of it. I want to say it’s like a family — we all learn from each other.”

Those who have seen a production of Sister Act before will notice one key change in Seymour’s production — the size of the cast.

“Something we do different from most schools is I don’t cut anybody and I try to add all of the kids in as many songs as I can, which is a lot of work but it gives a lot of kids a lot of stage time…” Lemke said. “For example, the opening number is just supposed to be Tina, Dolores and Michelle, three people Dolores is auditioning and she has her two backup singers. We added six backup singers, so we doubled the parts and added more kids. For all of the ensembles, we added the guys as altar boys. So it’s very different from what I think you would see originally or if other schools did this musical. Our stage is full of kids most of the time. It’s a big undertaking, but I think it pays off in the long run.”

“It sometimes gets very chaotic with everyone, but it always ends up great,” said Lila Mursau, who plays Deloris in the show. “It’s a lot of fun doing it and making connections with all the younger kids and the older kids. It’s just really fun doing it all. There are some challenges, but in the end, it’s all worth it.”

This will be Lemke’s last show as she looks towards retirement at the end of the year, and she said she’s proud of how her students have tackled this show.

“This is a challenging show and they never cease to surprise me and amaze me,” Lemke said. “These are dedicated kids who want a shot on stage and they will do what it takes… They put a lot of time in and I’m super proud of them.”

Performances of Sister Act will take place Feb. 19-22.

More information and tickets can be found at sites.google.com/seymour.k12.wi.us/seymourtheater.