The Bert Church High School drama department is back to bringing the classic musical Mama Mia.

Staff and students are excited to be back in production after a hiatus of performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Kevin Goodyear, the drama teacher at Bert Church High School, talks about the exciting new production. 

“So, this year we’re super excited to welcome audiences back to our theatre with another dazzling production. I thought it would be a great way to get the community involved and get everyone back into our theater and give the students a chance to really shine on stage again.” 

Goodyear is proud of the work his students are putting into production and cannot wait for when they perform. 

“You can expect to dance and jive and have the time of your life. You can expect to be the dancing queen. You can expect a disco extravaganza. You can expect bright colors, fun lights, and excellent costumes. You can definitely expect good work from Bert Church High School students.” 

Students at Bert Church are ecstatic and Goodyear says that it's been a long-awaited return. 

“We haven't done a musical since 2019 when we did the Little Mermaid. To have the energy of forty-fifty students on stage and to have dancing and singing all back in our theater again, is so much fun. And you can really see it on the kid's faces. They're just, so happy to be back and doing what they love to do.” 

In the past two years, the drama department has not been able to have a theatre packed full of people. So, Bert Church is extremely excited to see and feel the energy that comes from musical theatre once again. Goodyear hopes that soon enough things will start to go back to normal when it comes to scheduling productions.  

Goodyear also reflects back to the tough year that not only hit him but also affected the kids. 

“I think the hardest part was the connection. Generally, the musicals have forty or fifty students working together. But in the past two plays, we’ve only had about 12 characters in it. You know, these students would see each other every single day. Not only were they working on the play but they were working on that social connection. And then to go from that big group of people to only a handful of students a day; It's a big difference. So being able to get back to that normal is really great.” 

Bert Church’s drama department will be holding the production of Mama Mia on May 11th, 12th, and 13th with a special matinee production that is being held on the 14th. Tickets will start to go on sale on March 1st. 

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