The Brave News

by Travien Sears, Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor

The St. Joseph High School 5 Sisters Theatre Company will be putting out their 2019 Fall play, Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor, an intended pun on “Lend me a tenner” (a ten dollar bill), which was the title of Ludwig’s first Broadway production. The play was a nominee for 9 Tony Awards and wound up winning 3 and has since been adapted as a musical.

“This is one of the most absolute comedic plays that I know of,” said Mr. Van Deventer, the Visual and Performing Arts and Theatre Director at St. Joseph High School.

Mr. Van Deventer, who says that he chose this comedy because the theatre students have been asking him to do a comedy, wanted to put out a play that didn’t have too much of deep meaning. He wanted to put out a play that brought laughter and joy among the crowd as well as among the cast.

“[This play] is extremely hilarious and in the times that we are living in, people especially need a good laugh,” Mr. Van Deventer said.

There is also a few Bosco students on the cast list and one of these students, Parker Deaton, who plays Tito Merelli, a world-famous Italian opera tenor singer who is known as ll Stupendo, had some influence on the selection of this play.

“I didn’t tell [Mr. Van Deventer] that I wanted this you know what, I did talk to [Mr. Van Deventer] at the end of last semester and basically told him that all the shows I’ve ever done with St. Joseph’s have been like really serious, so I told [Mr. Van Deventer] that I wanted to do a really funny comedy,” said Parker.

“The cast in general is pretty excited, but also kinda nervous, which is essentially every show. Overall, we’re just excited to perform it come opening night,” Parker added.

The cast list is a small one consisting of only three St. John Bosco High School students and eight St. Joseph High School students, a total of only eleven performers.

Despite a small cast list, the play is guaranteed to be hilarious and to give the audience a good laugh. A breath of fresh air is one way to describe this play, and you won’t be disappointed with the talents that the students will bring.

Opening Night for the play will be Friday October 11th, 2019; 7:30 PM at St. Joseph High School, in the Multi Purpose Room turned Black Box Theatre.

Other performances include:

Saturday October 12th, 2019, 7:30 PM

Thursday October 17th, 2019, Social Media Night, 7:30PM

Friday October 18th, 2019, 3:30PM and 7:30PM

Saturday October 19th, 2019, 7:30, Closing Night

Be sure to go and watch this hilarious comedy and support your fellow St. John Bosco Braves and St. Joseph Jesters!