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Students perform 'Eighty Days' at performing arts center

Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

Luverne High School students are learning more than lines for the upcoming fall play, “Around the World in Eighty Days.”
The play will take place in three performances Thursday, Oct. 14, Friday, Oct. 15, and Saturday, Oct. 16. Curtain rises at 7 p.m.
They are learning to perform in a new facility, which director Shawn Kinsinger said has been “fun and interesting.”
“Every theater has its own personality,” he said. “The light casts certain shadows and the sounds bounce off of surfaces in unique ways.”
Previously LHS plays and musicals were performed in the school’s auditorium or Little Theater.
Due to the school’s remodel and construction project, the theater was demolished and changed into the choral and instrumental classrooms.
Construction of the new performing arts center was completed this fall.
“In the Little Theater and The Palace, we knew how to use the strengths of the space. Now that we’re in the PAC, it’s all new,” Kinsinger said.
“Around the World in Eighty Days” by Mark Brown was chosen for its flexibility.
“Being a brand-new venue means learning all of its systems,” Kinsinger said. “(It’s) a show that lets you get as technical as you want with lights, sound and rigging — a great advantage while we’re getting comfortable in a new home of LHS theater.”
The play centers around Phileas Fogg (portrayed by senior Luke Thorson), a wealthy businessman, who agrees to a wager that places his fortune and his life on the line in a race around the world.
Fogg and his French servant named Passepartout (junior Parker Carbonneau) must circle the globe in an unheard-of 80 days while being chased by Detective Fix (senior Chance Tunnissen), who is convinced that Fogg has pulled off the bank robbery of the century and will stop at nothing to arrest him.
During the 80-day journey using trains, steamships and elephants, Fogg and Passepartout meet a variety of characters including:
•Aouda, portrayed by senior Mia Wenzel.
•Actor 1/young Parsi, junior Myles Trimble.
•James Foster/Mudge, freshman Bethany Behr.
•Andrew Stuart/Proctor, sophomore Alex Perkins.
•John Sullivan/Speedy senior Pierce Cunningham.
•Gauthier Ralph/Judge Obidiah, freshman Xavier McKenzie.
•Newspaper person, freshman Chris Bonilla.
•Actor 2/Reverend Wilson’s servant, junior Ashlyn Johnson.
•Actor 3/Oysterpuff, senior Creedence Petroff.
•Actor 4/Bunsby, freshman Brianna Kinsinger.
•British consul/U.S. conductor, sophomore Joelia Lopez-Bomstad.
•Director of police/priest, junior Grace Ingebretsen.
•Sir Francis Cromarty/ship engineer, senior Griffen Jarchow.
•India conductor/train clerk, sophomore Hannah Vaudrin.
•Elephant owner/ship clerk, sophomore Abby Boltjes.
Crew members include Zoey Berghorst, sound; stage manager Kaitlin Conger; Egypt Forrest, lights; and Gemma Nelson, promotion and marketing.
Kinsinger said he has a handful of students who do not want to perform on stage but want to be involved with the show.
“The PAC has excellent light, sound, video and rigging systems and the students are in on the ground floor as far as learning how to operate them safely and with great, effect,” Kinsinger said.
Cost is $6 for adults, $4 for students, and free to LHS students with activity passes.

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