By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

Salina's two high schools, South and Central, are supposed to be bitter rivals.

Perhaps on the football field or basketball court, but not on the stage.

More than 50 student performers from both schools are busy rehearsing the musical "Working," opening Thursday at the Salina South High School auditorium -- and everybody in the cast is getting along.

"We're supposed to be rivals in sports, but we've come together in the arts," said Kelsey Hauserman, 16, a junior at Salina Central. "We're working together so well you can't even tell we're from separate schools."

For the first time in the history of both schools, drama students, singers, dancers, musicians and technical crews from South and Central have combined their onstage and backstage talents for a single high school production.

The musical's director, Bill Weaver, is reluctant to even call the show a South-Central production.

"I told them they're all artists working together to paint one canvas," he said.

"Working" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Nov. 14 and 2 p.m. Nov. 15. There is no performance Friday because of a Salina South football playoff game.

Arts isn't competition

The idea for a South-Central collaboration originated with Central's drama teacher, Chad Nulik. After seeing South and Central students harmoniously working together during annual summer musical productions at Salina Community Theatre, Nulik wondered if the same thing could be accomplished during the school year.

"We're constantly talking about competition between the two schools, but the arts isn't about that," he said.

Nulik instantly thought of the perfect director for the collaborative project -- Weaver, who serves as technical director and set designer at both schools.

"(Bill's) been nine years with me and about 20 with Kate (Lindsay, South's drama instructor)," Nulik said. "He's entrenched in both programs and has helped bridge the gap between the two schools."

Weaver, whose day job is marketing director for the Salina Area United Way, previously had directed productions of "The Glass Menagerie" and "The Taming of the Shrew" at Central, and the comedy "Harvey" at South.

For this first collaboration of the two schools, Weaver knew the perfect musical to mount: "Working," based on the book of the same name by Studs Terkel, which chronicles the lives and work experiences of 26 average American workers.

Characters include an ironworker, housewife, supermarket checker, millworker, stone mason, trucker, teacher and UPS delivery man, each of whom talks about their lives and works through spoken monologues, song and dance.

No leads, no problems

The ensemble nature of the musical enabled Weaver to cast the parts evenly between South and Central students.

"There's no leads in the musical, so if I gave a solo to someone from South, I could give a solo to someone from Central," he said. "And some of the characters just do monologues, so I didn't need all singers."

The collaboration also extends to student musicians in the pit orchestra, choreographers, backstage crew and stage managers.

"Everything's divided equally," Weaver said.

The only thing that isn't divided equally is the location.

Central's auditorium already was reserved for the second weekend of November, so all performances of "Working" will be at the South High auditorium.

Best from both schools

Haley Hrabe, a South senior, said the idea of a collaboration with Central was first proposed at a drama club meeting last year. At that time, she said, "We weren't that keen about it."

Now she's grateful that both schools agreed to work together.

"Both schools are full of talent, and this is the best talent from both schools," said Hrabe, 18. "I think we'll shock the community at how well we're getting along. It's something I'll never forget. I've made friends for life."

Lindsay said the collaboration has been a great experience for students of both schools.

"They're taking pride in what they're doing," she said. "It's nice to see them working hand-in-hand to make this a good production. It's really all about the show."

The bond formed by the cast has been so strong that when South school officials wanted South cast members to sing a song from the production at a pep rally, they refused unless cast members from Central also were included.

"That's when I knew what were doing here was working," Weaver said. "That's when I knew we were working towards a common goal."

Maili Kee, 16, a sophomore at South, said there are a lot of "cool" people from both schools involved in the musical.

"We've really meshed," she said.

Jaicee Wilson, 16, a junior at Central, said he'd be sad when the show ended.

"Before all this started I thought there would be a rivalry, but we're really enjoying ourselves," he said. "I'm really going to miss everyone when it's over."

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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Deb Wall says....
Theatre is about collaboration and Salina teens from both schools have been creating great theatre together at SCT every summer for years. I'm not a bit surprised at the positive outcome of this project; it is exactly what I would expect of these outstanding talented young artists. This is a great idea and I can't wait to see the show! I hope they do this kind of project again!
11/6/2009

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