Through each of its award-winning shows, Village Christian Theatre Arts has pushed the envelope with its storytelling, production value, and set designs.
In Spring 2023, “Singin’ in the Rain” took it one step farther.
Among its achievements, which included a pair of prestigious John Raitt Awards for Youth, was entirely built around the experience – and making it rain inside the Kendall Pavilion.
As the first act was beginning to wind down, Don Lockwood, played by VCS students Justin Nasfell (RKO Cast) and Peyton Podgorski (MGM Cast) took to the city streets with a smile, excitement for the future, and an umbrella.
As the lights went up, the crowd gasped and cheered as rain incredibly fell from the overhead light rigging.
“We always look for a moment that is a showstopper, something that is epic and that really stands out like when Mary Poppins flew or when Peter Pan flew into the audience,” said Director of Fine Arts Natalie Taylor. “For the students to actually use umbrellas and splash around when their feet hit the water, that was our ‘wow’ moment, our showstopper.”
Behind the moment was an incredible group of dedicated dads led by John Norton.
“I thought, we can make it rain, it’s getting that water out that is going to be the hard part,” Norton said. “We were going to have to build a second stage on top of the existing stage to have the water funnel off, so we started throwing ideas around. It’s a pretty solid group of dads that are like, what do you need? They are dedicated and they aren’t afraid of some hard work and long hours. We all have the same goal to make the stage the best we can and to make the kids look good.”
That group consisted of Dave Simmons, Gevork Asatryan, Bruce Podgorski, Keith MacGregor, and Todd Young, among others.
Working in partnership with the set designer, the group isolated a 12-foot by 36-foot area for the rain to fall and went to work.
Norton came up with a grid design that was hung from the lighting trussing and filled with porous, pressurized soaker tubes to create an authentic rain experience.
A remote sprinkler valve was even fabricated to control the water from the lighting board.
To accommodate the water, the second stage was built on top of the current with a 1-percent slope, allowing the estimated 15 gallons of water to collect and drain outside of the building.
After weeks of work, and with opening night quickly approaching, a special rehearsal was added to test the system.
The results were spectacular.
“That was a blast,” Nasfell said. “I would say that having everyone see the rain started to kind of kick [the show] into gear. ‘OK, this is happening. We are doing this, and it’s going to be big and it’s going to be awesome.’ That really motivated people to really step it up.”
The joy and excitement that reverberated through the cast that day carried on through the show, adding a powerful new layer to the story for audience and cast alike.
“For me personally, it added a lot to my performance,” Nasfell added. “There would be days when they would put on a little less rain, and I would actually do worse on those days. It totally altered the performance, gave it way more energy, and was immersive, obviously, for me.”
The rain design was the latest in a long history of impactful set enhancements made possible from within the community.
Most recently, video and image projection was implemented in the Middle School production of “Matilda” and the Elementary production of “The Wizard of Oz, Jr.,” after previously being utilized in such shows as “Newsies” and “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Simmons has been a driving force in adding this valuable aspect to the shows.
“When you’re working with people who are uber creative, you strive for the highest level of perfection in the timeframe given,” Simmons said. “And they are nice and fun to be around? Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s do another one. We don’t get burned out because it’s fun. At the end of the day, it doesn’t feel like work at all.”
And the final results are always worth it for the audience as well as the cast and crew.
“When you get to show day, and I’m in the crowd and all the lights and sound and everyone is in costume, I was blown away,” Norton said. “The kids’ performance was great and made it all look pretty awesome.”
Added Taylor: “It meant a lot to the kids and to the production team. It was a difficult season for Theatre Arts, but we overcame a lot of trials and difficult circumstances in this show. So, it was poetic having it rain every night. Every adult on the production team cried every time it rained, almost like being washed clean. It was like ‘Yes! We did it. We made it. And we did it within our own team – our own Village.’”