Remembering a milestone…by Rick Bergmann

40 Years is a long time, we celebrate it in our culture as some great goal. Think of how many parties you have had for people who have reached the magical number of 40. Well in 2007 PGSTT turned 40. We had been planning for that year since 2005. We knew we were going to do a big show, something that celebrated everything PGSTT was about. We chose “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” one of the defining Broadway musicals of the past 20 years. It was a show that said we were serious about the theatre. It required a huge cast, an army of behind the scenes crew, costumers, and many other key personnel. It was also a trying year, because our home for a majority of the past 40 years, High Point High School, would be doing some major renovations and we would not be able to perform there that summer. This left us scrambling for a venue; thankfully the Bowie Center for the Performing Arts gave us a space. But this meant more work; we had to find a rehearsal space for 10 weeks, which High Point graciously allowed us into their gym and cafeteria. We had to find a place to build sets. Thankfully, Emmanuel United Methodist Church allowed us to set up shop in their parking lot. We also had to find an army of costumers, makeup people, props builders, and set workers to bring the lush Disney show to life. It was a long and grueling process.

Opening night finally arrived and the evening began with a reception for alumni of the program. It was a time to talk about the program, the shows and what they had meant to each of us. At 7pm, the show began. The wonderful thing a producer gets to do is watch the audience’s reaction to a show. We have seen it 2 or 3 dozen times, but to watch an audience who is seeing it for the first time is magical. “Beauty and the Beast” was great because of the number of families that bought tickets. Little children would gasp at the beast, or laugh when Chip the talking teacup arrived on set. There were lots of little moments that the audience absolutely loved. But it was great to hear from the alumnus as well, because seeing the show seemed to bring back so many memories from their years with the program. In the end, there was thunderous applause and the hard work and stress of the prior 10 weeks of rehearsal and really the prior 2 years of work all seemed to melt away. Everyone in the theatre was transported to the small provincial village in France and invited to be their guest.