NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A play with music based on the ancient fable of Androcles and the Lion is at Stage 9 this week.
"The writer is Aurand Harris and the music is by Glenn Mack," said Kris Anshutz with Stage 9. "They put it, set it in Commedia dell'arte, which was in Italy in the 15 and 1600s, and it was a traveling troupe, and they acted from a scenario, so it was all improv, so that's kind of included. It takes place in Rome, but it, everybody's dressed in Elizabethan-type costumes."
There are six people in the cast. Androcles is Mariana Inchauriga, the Lion is Jacob Lemonds, Pantalone is Diane Roth, Lelio is Abby Lemonds, Isabella is Rachel Hein and the Captain is Keely Schmidt. Josh Morris is directing. Cassidy Ghere is the stage manager.
"One way to think of it is to think of a 30-minute sitcom, because you have all these stock characters. You have the tricky slave, which is the, you know, the guy who likes to play pranks on everybody. You have the miser, and you have the young lover, so you, and you have the braggart who brags and thinks he's so great, but he's really scared."
Tickets are available online at stage9hutch.com and at the door.
"The performances are Aug. 1, 2, and 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. Aug. 1 is opening night, so we still are doing the $10 tickets. Everybody gets in for $10, because it's our 10th anniversary," Anshutz said.
Show sponsor for Androcles and the Lion is PrairieStar Health Center.
Season sponsors are Members Mortgage Services, Eagle Radio, Bretz Injury Law, First National Bank, IdeaTek, Wayne's Printing and Copying and Decker & Mattison.
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