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closeAscension Production Co. performs at Heritage Park
Sumner-based theater group puts on Celebrate Godspell
Roxanne Cooke
Rain or shine, short or long trains blaring by — the show must go on.
Not even a man who rode up on his bike and played harmonica alongside the actors could stop Ascension Production Company from putting on its production last weekend.
For the second summer, the theater company took over Heritage Park and performed “Celebrate Godspell,” featuring songs from the hit Broadway musical “Godspell” and an original narration. The performances are part of the company’s Theatre in the Park series.
This Saturday the all-ages troupe of 23 actors and musicians will be at it again. The free show will take place at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 in Sumner’s Heritage Park.
The Sumner-based theater business had its beginnings in a Bonney Lake Lutheran church. Founders Petra and Christopher Karr eventually launched the company outside of their church. Now, six years later, they have achieved nonprofit status and just opened their new office on Cherry Street.
Musical director Eric Faris, a recent Pacific Lutheran University graduate and music major, said he added some additional music pieces to the show’s score to help the performance flow better.
“I’ve done some ambitious things with the music,” he said.
Faris performed in last year’s “Stoomendous Seuss” and this year he’ll be doing some acting and playing some of the music in addition to his directing responsibilities. Last week the group practiced for several hours each day, facing high temperatures later in the week. It was fast moving, like a week-long camp, he said.
“Everyone’s worked really hard,” Faris said. “It’s a unique opportunity.”
All actors and musicians are volunteers. Petra Karr is a volunteer and volunteer coordinator for the Sumner Downtown Association, which helped move Theatre in the Park forward.
SDA has helped put the spotlight on Ascension Production Company, Petra Karr said.
“That was a gift,” she said.
While she is the director, her husband Christopher handles the designing and lighting.
Though they opened their own office, it’s a small space and storage for sets and other equipment can sometimes be an issue.
“It takes a lot of money to support an active theater program,” she said.
But the Karrs chose Sumner because of its sense of community and SDA’s leadership. Last year’s Theatre in the Park drew a decent crowd.
“We had a great audience,” Petra Karr said.
Locals even called her this year to see if there would be a second incarnation of the event.
Commuters and residents noticed the actors and musicians practicing in Heritage Park last week, so it acted as a sort of free advertising tool, said SDA executive director Shelly Schlumpf.
Schlumpf said she’s happy to have any event that brings the community together downtown and in the summer.
“That makes me doubly happy,” she said. “Whatever brings ‘em here, I’m happy with it. I think it’s a better connection for the community.”
SDA lists any downtown events on its calendar, but it does not fund Theatre in the Park. Ascension Production Company is essentially a “downtown partner” that provides artistic advice to SDA.
The theater group is planning for a fall Veterans Day performance and a spring production at the Puyallup Regional Elks Theatre, which the Karrs started. Karr said she hopes to put together more live theater activities in Sumner and plans to teach adult theater classes through the new office.
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THEATRE IN THE PARK
See “Celebrate Godspell” with songs from the Broadway hit “Godspell” and original narration. The next and final performance will take place at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 in Heritage Park, located where Kincaid Avenue meets Main Street. The show is free and open to the public.