By Suki Rowden, Staff Writer
After 20 successful years on campus, The Company, Saint Vincent College’s student-run musical theater club, pushes full steam ahead to unveil a new production of Grease. Josie Rodell, the president of The Company and co-director of Grease, portrays the titular Sandy and describes the character’s switch from innocent and pure to a greaser as the most interesting phenomenon for her to experience.
In addition to her leading role, Rodell, a senior history major, also is juggling the responsibilities that come with directing the production. “I am concerning myself with helping the crew build the set, paint the stage and set, and pull costumes. Costuming a show to this scale has been a challenge because we have 40 people in our cast who need to be fitted into costumes that are right for the time period. Also, being completely student run, it is difficult to build a set that will be versatile enough for our cast,” she said.
The other co-director, Joseph Valenty, who also plays radio personality Vince Fontaine, helps pull all parts of the production together, including capturing “…the characters and general vibe that is unique to every show.”
Anna Doelling, secretary of The Company and actress for Rizzo, experiences the opposite kind of character growth: from greaser to (almost) innocent and pure. “Rizzo is so interesting because she is the villain of the story, but at the end of the day she is a high school teenager with thoughts and feelings,” Doelling, a junior biology major, explained.
In addition to roles as actress and secretary, Doelling is also the music director for the production. Grease has a number of iconic songs and bringing them to life can be a daunting task. However, with a cast this dedicated, Doelling is not worried. “We really have fun and play with music and scenes,” Doelling said.
The cast has poured endless hours and many late night practices to do the legendary show justice. Come support the student production on Nov. 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. You can catch the final show at the matinee show on Nov. 13 at 2:00 p.m. The production offers free admission, snacks and drinks for all those who wish to attend!