Oliver! by Pen-Hi students begins tonight at Cleland
Seniors at Pen-Hi will say a bittersweet farewell this week with the theatre department’s production of the classic musical “Oliver!” Grade 12 student Heather Lieskovsky, playing the Artful Dodger — somewhat of a leader for a gang of pickpockets — has been preparing for her final role with friends she has known since they were children.
“Everybody has sort of grown up with everybody. So even though this might not be our last year doing theatre-related things, it’s our last year with these kids we grew up with,” Lieskovsky said.
“It’s been honestly really interesting to put together a show from the ground up. We’re sad this is our last year.”
More than a hundred students are involved in the production, from the 18-piece orchestra to the art department and costumes to digital media students working on the show posters and more.
“The beautiful thing about theatre is it is multi-disciplinary,” said Andrew Knudsen, performing arts teacher at Pen-Hi. “It’s all-encompassing, so as a school we try to build community and theatre is a good way to do that.”
Josephine Kay, playing the titular role of Oliver, has enjoyed the process of building a production from the ground up with her fellow students.
“We’ve done musicals before, but this is the first time we’ve done them where we really have ad 18-piece orchestra, the art department and the fashion department,” Kay said.
“It’s different because all the other ones have been fantasy; this is historical fiction, something that could have actually happened in the past, so it’s obviously much more realistic and … sad,” Kay said.
Kay had the option to play a female version of the lead role as “Olivia,” which one of the leads in the double cast performance chose to do, but Kay is looking forward to the new experience.
“It’s really different for me because obviously I’m female and Oliver is not female. That’s one thing that’s really different is I’ve never played an 11-year-old boy before,” she explained with a laugh.
Natai Willms, playing Nancy, a lady of the evening who watches out for young Oliver, said the role lies outside the realm of her own personality, and brings more focus on her vocal performance than she’s ever had before.
“Nancy is interesting, definitely out there, and a lot more promiscuous than I’ve ever been. So it’s interesting to see. She has a lot of really powerful songs, most of the songs she sings in she’s the lead,” Willms said.
“That’s kind of interesting because I’ve never really sang at all. So being in a role where I have to be a lead singer is a little different.”
The production runs tonight through Friday at 7 p.m. at the Cleland Theatre, with a noon matinee also on Friday. Tickets are $10 available at Penticton Secondary School, Banks Travel or at the door.