Members of Performing Arts To Homeschoolers practice their upcoming production of Persuasion.
A handful of the cast of Persuasion dance at the end of a scene during a rehearsal for the play at the Evergreen Playhouse in Centralia on April 30.
Director of Persuasion, Angela Wilcox, laughs at a joke from one of the parents as she helps set up props for a scene rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon at the Evergreen Playhouse in Centralia.
Valerie Bower sings in front of the cast of Persuasion during a rehearsal at the Evergreen Playhouse on Tuesday afternoon in Centralia.
TKTKTKTK, playing the role of, talks with Eleanor Bishop, playing the role of Ann Elliott, during a rehearsal for Persuasion at the Evergreen Playhouse on Tuesday afternoon in Centralia.
The cast of Persuasion rehearses a scene for the play at the Evergreen Playhouse on Tuesday afternoon in Centralia.
Local youth thespians will perform at the Evergreen Playhouse on Friday and Saturday as Performing Arts To Homeschoolers puts on a production of “Persuasion.”
The combined cast and crew of 22 students, ranging from the ages of 14 to 18, have been hard at work preparing for one of their three annual performances.
The play, which is based on the last completed novel by Jane Austen, focuses on a character named Anne Elliot, a teenager who agreed to marry a young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. The clever and confident officer is poor with no rich family connections.
Sir Walton, Elliot’s father, and older sister, Elizabeth, are not pleased with Elliot’s choice for marriage and do not find him fit for the family estate Elliot is set to inherit.
After the engagement is broken off, Elliot, who is now 27 and unmarried, reconnects with the sister and brother-in-law of the man she rejected after they rent a home.
Wentworth, who is now wealthy from his victories in the war, has never forgiven Elliot for rejecting him. He begins the search for a suitable woman to marry, vowing to never become involved with Elliot again.
As the plot develops, Elliot attempts to win back her former love interest, a task that proves to come with a lot of twists.
Student and stage manager for the production, Evelyn Murray, said the play pushes the actors, some of who have never acted before.
“I think they are learning to try something that looks harder,” she said, adding that Austen is iconic to literature. “They are learning a lot about how to learn something that feels very unnatural and be able to succeed.”
The money from the tickets will go to reimburse anyone who helped pay for costumes, as well as cover the printing costs for advertisement. The remainder of the money will go to keep Performing Arts to Homeschoolers running. PATH started in 2013 and has the goal of extending the arts to homeschool children who may not otherwise have an opportunity to participate in plays and musicals. Most of the members of PATH also belong to the Lewis County Area Homeschoolers.
The play will be held at the Evergreen Playhouse, located at 226 W. Center St. in Centralia on Friday and Saturday. Both shows begin at 7 p.m. and tickets are available for $7 at the door.
