Cranberry Adventures with The Pirate Queen
Written by Kristen Hogue 1/24/20
Cranberry Adventures with The Pirate Queen
It’s play season here at Cranberry High School and opening night is quickly approaching!
This year’s school musical, directed by Preston Yoder, Cranberry’s Choir Director, is The Pirate Queen, a tail about love, honor, and bravery.
Michael Gunn, who plays a ship worker named Tiernan in the musical, said, “It’s a story we’ve never done before, a story you’ve never seen.”
Gunn is going into his fifth year as a member of the Cranberry Drama Club.
In the musical, Grace, a character who grew up in a time where men and women weren’t equal, wanted more for her life than to just get married and be a “good” wife.
To avoid this stereotypical lifestyle, Grace leaves her everyday life behind and disguises herself as a boy on a pirate ship known as “The Pirate Queen.”
Throughout all of her struggles, she has to find a way to save Renaissance Ireland from the wrath of Queen Elizabeth I.
Jenna Seigworth and Michael Gunn practicing their exciting sword fight for the upcoming musical at Cranberry High School, “The Pirate Queen” (Photograph by Jillian Plummer)
Jenna Seigworth, a senior at Cranberry, will be portraying the leading role of Grace O’Malley.
Like Gunn, Seigworth will be performing in a play for her fifth straight year for Cranberry High School.
When asked about her favorite part of her current leading role, Seigworth stated it was “The empowerment of the character...being able to be a woman in a musical.”
Unlike last year’s play, Cinderella, most people haven’t heard much about The Pirate Queen.
Cranberry likes to change things up every other year and do a musical that’s totally out of the box.
“This play is more music driven. It has a different structure and two different conflicts,” Gunn commented about this year’s play selection.
While Cinderella is a classic, The Pirate Queen brings so much to the table in terms of originality and something fresh.
“The students put so much hard work in,” Jillian Plummer, a member of the set crew, mentioned.
Seigworth went on to say that this play, “gives us the ability to really make it our own. You get to see your friends put something together, and the storyline is very different.”
Plummer also added that the fake sword fights and new set pieces should make this year a lot more exciting.
The play will take place for 3 days: February 7th, 8th, and 9th, with the 8th having two separate showings.
The doors open at 6:30pm on the 7th and 8th, with the show starting at 7pm.
On the 8th and 9th, doors open at 1:30pm and the show starts at 2:00pm.
Adult tickets will be $8 and children (under 12) will be $4.
Tickets will be available for purchase at the Cranberry school store, Monday through Friday, starting February 3rd, during all school lunches.
Tickets will also be available at the door each night of the play.
Come out and support the Cranberry students.
Photos by Jillian Plummer
Jenna Seigworth practicing in her lead role as Grace O’Malley in “The Pirate Queen”
Cast of the “The Pirate Queen” practicing for its upcoming performance
Preston Yoder, director for the musical and teacher at Cranberry High School, at practice for “The Pirate Queen”
Michael Gunn in his lead role as a ship worker practicing for “The Pirate Queen”
Jenna Seigworth playing Grace O’Malley on stage during practice for “The Pirate Queen”