After a pair of successful performances on campus, the Missouri Western State University production of \u201cAmerican Story\u201d will travel to Colorado for a performance near the sites where the historic events described in the musical took place nearly 100 years ago. The concertized performance is scheduled for Friday, May 10 at the Famous Performing Arts Center in Trinidad, Colo., to benefit the Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre. (Story continues below the video.)<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican Story\u201d relates the history of a strike by immigrant coal miners in 1913-14 that culminated in the Ludlow Massacre, a raid on the strikers\u2019 tent colony that resulted in the deaths of up to 25 people, including two women and 11 children. Cast and crew are anxious to take \u201cAmerican Story\u201d to Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the people that we will be performing for, the citizens of Trinidad, had ancestors that were a part of that strike,\u201d said Thomas Delgado, freshman theatre major from Kearney, Mo. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see what they think of the show. Hopefully, they appreciate it as much as I have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrienne Collins, junior vocal performance major from St. Joseph, said \u201cAmerican Story\u201d struck an emotional chord with audiences when the cast performed it on campus on April 21. \u201cThink how much more touching it will be in Colorado, where the events actually happened and where the characters\u2019 grandchildren and great-grandchildren might actually be in the audience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In addition to the performance in Trinidad, students will tour historical sites associated with \u201cAmerican Story.\u201d They will then travel to Denver, where they will tour the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and meet with some of the professionals working there. \u201cThat could be a good opportunity for our students to make future career connections,\u201d said Dr. Laurel Vartabedian, who wrote the book and lyrics for \u201cAmerican Story\u201d and helped organize the trip.<\/p>\n
The students will also meet with Missouri Western alumni Seth and Kelsey Lyons, who were awarded a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in Silverthorne, Colo., as part of the first Applied Entrepreneurship class in the Craig School of Business in 2009. Finally, the students will perform at an event for alumni and other friends of Missouri Western at the famous Cherokee Ranch & Castle in Sedalia, Colo. About 170 people living in the Denver area have been invited to the event.<\/p>\n
Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western\u2019s president and husband of Laurel, said the nine students in the 10-member cast will learn valuable lessons from the trip to Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are all kinds of inherent advantages to performing, in terms of being creative, inventing characters, sharing musical talents,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think this has an added hook. They\u2019re learning about an important part of American history, and they\u2019re actually traveling to where those incidents took place. So I think it will be an interesting, emotional journey for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican Story\u201d has been staged in Colorado, Texas and New York, winning a \u201cBest of Festival\u201d award in New York. Missouri Western\u2019s production compares favorably to the others, Laurel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of the vocal talent here is just astounding,\u201d she said. \u201cIn New York we had all professional actors, and to a person the voices here are every bit as good or better than that cast.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cast has appreciated the opportunity to perform, and to learn more about a neglected part of American history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really excited to be able to tell this story that a lot of people have not heard about,\u201d said Adrienne Collins, junior vocal performance major from St. Joseph. \u201cIt\u2019s an American story that\u2019s kind of ugly and there\u2019s a lot of heartbreak to it, but yet you also see the good that came from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all incredibly grateful to be working with the Vartabedians and to be working on a piece of art like this,\u201d said Thomas Delgado, freshman theatre major from Kearney, Mo. \u201cIt\u2019s just a tragically beautiful story. I hope it becomes something really big one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The April 21 performances were a benefit to offset travel costs for the students. Donations are still being accepted. Those interested in supporting the trip can contact the Missouri Western State University Foundation at 816-271-5647.<\/p>\n
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a pair of successful performances on campus, the Missouri Western State University production of \u201cAmerican Story\u201d will travel to Colorado for a performance near the sites where the historic events described in the musical took place nearly 100 years ago. The concertized performance is scheduled for Friday, May 10 at the Famous Performing Arts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[118,234,321,323,563],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8444,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions\/8444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}