Article Photos

SHERBURN - This weekend at Sherburn Community Theater, viewers will be treated to "Nottingham," a modern-day version of Robin Hood set to music, with about 45 Martin County West High School cast members performing.

The play is the first directed by Biny Claussen, a librarian at Martin County West with the assistance of student director Liz Rabbe.

"I was a part of the Winter Wonderettes play last year," Rabbe said. "All four of us who were part of the Wonderettes are involved with this play. Last week, when we were able to start practicing in the theater again, it was like, 'Yeah, it's good to be back.'"

In this musical production of "Nottingham," Robin Hood is a high school girl (played by Alana Helmstetter) whose family has worked to bring justice to other areas of the world. But at her own school, she sees a segregation of the students between the "haves" and "have nots."

"There is a lot of action and energy in this play," Rabbe said. "We have two major scenes where we have the entire cast onstage, but otherwise most of the characters will be seen at different spots throughout the play."

Other cast members include Blake Potthoff as Little John, Robin's friend who is a great football player, but is not allowed to play because he is a "have not."

"John Prince is the nemesis ... He has hand-picked all the rich kids to play on the football team, so Little John is benched," Claussen said. "So he ends up helping Robin ... It really shows the clash of high school cultures."

Caleb Krusemark plays John Prince, while Justin Holm plays Marion, Robin's love interest.

Other contributors to the Nottingham play include Rick and Connie Stenson, who both have a background in musical theater, and choral director Laura Pace. Bryon Kittleson is helping with the technical duties at the Sherburn Community Theater.

"The TASK force has been phenomenal," Claussen said. "(The theater) is really going to become the place to have fine arts."

Both Claussen and Rabbe feel the theater is a good example of the school and the community working together.

"It all comes down to the community, and keeping the students involved with the community, because the community is so involved with what we do," Rabbe said.

Along with the theater setting, the concession stand will be open for the performance, run by parent volunteers. The theater will not show a movie the weekend of the Martin County West performance.

"The whole student body and staff are just really excited about this," Claussen said. "We've been working on this since the beginning of October, so we're ready."

Performance times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. Tickets can be purchased from any cast member or at the door. Cost is $6 for adults and $4 for students.