Travel on a high seas adventure with sailors, pirates and civilians this fall with Moorestown High School. There will be lots of action with sword fights and mutinies as well as emotion with conflicts of good and evil on this daring ship voyage, all in a quest for buried treasure.
All of the action and adventure will take place when Moorestown High School Theater presents its 2015 fall play, Ken Ludwig’s “Treasure Island,” based on the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. The performances will take place on Oct. 22, 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the MHS auditorium. All tickets are $10.
“Come out because it is going to be a really good show; you get to see a classic come to life; and who doesn’t love pirates? Please come to support MHS theater,” Director Erica Scanlon Harr said.
MHS decided on Ludwig’s “Treasure Island” to get as many students involved as possible as well as to revisit a classic piece of literature. There are 29 students in the cast, and “Treasure Island” is a literary work everyone knows.
Some of the things that make this adaption different from others is the roles of men being played by females. The lead, Jim Hawkins, is played by a female, Skylar Raye Noyes, along with many other cross-gender roles.
“We have gender bended a lot of our roles,” Scanlon Harr said.
“It is fun being rough and more boy like. It is a different side of me. It includes a lot of action, running and adventure,” Noyes said.
“Treasure Island” begins at an inn on the Devon coast of England in 1775 and quickly becomes an unforgettable tale of treachery and mayhem featuring a host of legendary swashbucklers. At the center of it all are Hawkins, a 14-year-old boy who longs for adventure, and the infamous Long John Silver, played by Sam Scheibe, who is a complex study of good and evil. Silver is an unscrupulous buccaneer-rogue whose greedy quest for gold, coupled with his affection for Jim, cannot help but win the heart of every soul who has ever longed for romance, treasure and adventure.
“It’s neither a comedy nor a drama. It is really an adventure,” Scanlon Harr said.
An element that is amped up in this version is the relationship and bond between Jim and Silver as well as the question of pirates themselves. Pirates are often portrayed as silly or bad, but this play questions that.
“One of the things Ludwig added to this is Long John Silver taking this role as kind of a father figure and Jim’s longing for a father, as his father died, so that is really amped up in this version,” Scanlon Harr said. “It is a nice relationship and element to add in.”
“The audience has to figure out if they like Silver or think he is evil and dislike him. I also hope they take away a new perspective on pirates; that some are kind, but have to be rough,” Noyes said.
Scheibe, playing Silver, would like these elements to spark conversation and really get people thinking.
“I want to see conversation and people get invested and think about it more than just coming to watch (the play). When you get people to talk, you feel that you did a good job and that it was a really good show,” Scheibe said.
MHS Theater is going to try to bring the pirate feel into the audience. During intermission, some pirates will come to take pictures with audience members, and there will be pirate-themed face painting available, too.
“It’ll make it feel like a whole event,” Scanlon Harr said.
Performances will take place in the Moorestown High School auditorium, 350 Bridgeboro Road, on Thursday, Oct. 22, Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24. Tickets can be purchased online at moorestownhstheater.weebly.com or at the door.
“If you’re really into literature, it is obviously an amazing story, and it has adapted really well into a play. And it just has this really fun, high energy even when it gets really serious. You can’t be bored watching this show,” said Max Bixby, who is playing Captain Smollet.
For more information and updates, find “Moorestown High School Theater” on Facebook or visit its website at moorestownhstheater.weebly.com. Any questions, please call the high school at (856) 778–6610 ext. 22368 or e-mail at moorestownhstheater@gmail.com.
