“Urinetown” opening night rescheduled due to inclement weather

The Wichitan
February 21, 2018

To ensure safety of cast, crew and audiences following the inclement weather Feb. 21 and class cancelation for Feb. 22, the “Urinetown” opening night has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 23 after months of rehearsals, costume design and make-up preparations.

According to Elizabeth Lewandowski, theater department chair, tickets purchased for Thursday nights showing will be honored for later performances.

Christie Maturo, director and assistant theater professor, posted on the “Urinetown MWSU” FaceBook page about 7:30 p.m. that stated “opening night will now be Friday night.”

According to Katie Cagle, stage manager and theater tech design senior, once the call was made she communicated it to the everyone in the cast and crew, and answered any questions they might have had.

While cast members said they are disappointed, they said they wouldn’t want audiences risk safety to see the show Thursday night.

“I love the snow, but I would rather do the show,” Jordan Logan, acting and directing freshman, said. “I’ve been looking forward to this opening night. I’m disappointed in mother nature.”

Cast and crew learned the high school matinee scheduled for Fed. 21 was canceled earlier this week, so the excitement to preform moved to opening night on Thursday, but Natalie Cook, vocal performance freshman, said the emotions bottled up will only energize everyone involved in the play more when they finally preform in front of audiences.

“I am pretty upset about it being cancelled, but at the same time, things happen, and I will have another day to rest so the show on Friday will have even more energy,” Cook said.

Although the cast members are upset about the cancelation, Ron Harle, assistant stage manager and theater freshman, said the weather is out of their control, so they have to follow along with direction.

“It’s obviously frustrating,” Harle said. “Everyone in the department has put in a lot of time on this show. To have opening day canceled by weather is clearly frustrating, but it’s weather. What are you going to do? No real point in being mad about it.”

Being part of the stage management team, Emily Burns, assistant stage manager and technical theater sophomore, said there is nothing like seeing actors “work and grow like that, getting to dress rehearsals to watch them put everything out there.”

“There’s nothing you want more than for them to be able to step out in front of an audience and share that joy,” Burns said. “See all the time and effort from everyone involved in the process of the show finally coming together—it is extremely frustrating to have to cancel opening night, because they’re ready for an audience.”

Despite the frustration, Burns said the “Urinetown” team remains positive because “this will only make Friday nights performance better.”

“Sometimes things like this happen, and ultimately you can’t risk the safety for the sake of a performance no matter how badly you may want to,” Burns said. “I’m hoping this won’t discourage them, but rather motivate them to really leave everything they have out there on the stage. It’s really just going to make Friday night that much better. I really believe in these people.”

Actors use situations like this as motivation to fuel the other performances, and Burns said it’s because it helps realize how special it is to get to do their craft in front of an audience.

“Urinetown” regular performances will continue Friday at 7:30 p.m. with performances continuing this coming weekend at 2:30 p.m., and next Thursday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Additional reporting by Avery Whaite, Robin Reid, Brendan Wynne and Cortney Wood.

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