April 25th, 2019

Hey Y'all, 

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Garrick Hartley, a 2019 Senior, and resident director of the Sauk Prairie Theatre Guild's Midstage Theatre Troupe, a subsection of the Guild that works each summer to bring a student led, run, and produced play to the Sauk Prairie Area. This is the fourth year this program has existed, and each year we've used Drama as a medium to perform serious, quality drama productions. 

When the this Troupe was formed, we were aiming to do three things: 

First, provide something for those students interested in theatre to do over the summer, specifically with tight audition opportunities and smaller, talented casts.

Secondly, we wanted to provide students with the opportunity to FULLY design a show. While Sauk is blessed with wonderful performing arts departments that involve students heavily on every level, the idea of something that was purely student run appealed to the Theatre Guild. We deemed it a good way to expand student's horizons on not just acting, but theatrical design and technology, set building, production, and management. 

Third, we wanted to show that students can handle any material put forth in front of them--as we have a lot of talent within our small community. 

When all of this has been combined with the freedom to do whatever we choose to pursue has led to very unique, different shows--such as an arena style (in-the-round) production of 12 Angry Jurors this last summer, and a thrust production of Play The Hand That's Dealt. In short, this program awards ingenuity, expands skills and knowledge, and is pretty gosh darn fun. 

So, this year, we will be performing a full-stage proscenium version of Lois Lowry's The Giver. For those of you unfamiliar with the novel, The Giver is well-known Dystopian novel based in a fictional community enshrouded with lies and secrets, where no one knows color or emotion. At least, Jonas thinks that until he is assigned to be the new keeper of memories.

If you're interested in anything related to the this opportunity, Wednesday, May 15th we will be having an informational meeting from 5:00pm-6:30pm in the Leahy Theatre. The play itself is near the end of July, so there's a bit of time yet; however, we're pushing even harder this year to allow teens to have larger roles in design, technology, and everything else. 

Opportunities are open for graduating 8th graders (incoming freshman) through graduating seniors. If you think you'd like to audition, or be a part of the production, please come to this meeting! I'll have more information then, and more information about the production itself, what it will require, and what will happen.

Note: Auditions themselves are May 21st, May 22nd, and May 23rd, in the lower level of the Sauk City Library from 5:00pm-7:00pm. If you wish to just come to those, please do. 

I've helped direct this program since it started, and I look forward to making my last year doing so memorable. Hope to see you on May 15th. :) 

Regards, 

Garrick