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Drama Program
Overview
The Oakbrook Academy Dramatic Arts Program can take a student from age seven through age seventeen and prepare them for entrance into any college or university theatre department. In addition to the end of every semester presentation, students at the Oakbrook Academy have the opportunity to audition for four to six shows per year. We do one full Broadway musical every spring and a junior version musical every summer. In the fall we do one or two plays and in the winter we usually do the Winter One-acts and a children's play. We use techniques taught by the masters, Stanislavski, Strasburg and Hagen. We use the finest of literature and the classics for our material. If an Oakbrook Academy drama student continues through our program and keeps their notebooks up to date, they will be more than ready to face any challenge that the universities can expect of them. For more information on the Oakbrook Academy Drama Program, please do not hesitate to contact Jan Barker Director at (630) 928-0936.
Once on This Island
Performed:
July 28th, 2007
at Avery Coonley Performing Arts Center
Directed By:
Don Smith & Paula Taylor
Summer 2007 was filled with lots of singing and dancing at the
Oakbrook Academy of Music and Art as we worked hard on our Musical Theatre Workshop production of Once on This Island. This highly original and theatrical Caribbean adaptation of the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" sings and dances the story of Ti Moune, the poor peasant girl who rescues, nurses and falls in love with Daniel, a young man from a wealthy family. When Daniel is returned to his people, the gods who rule the island guide Ti Moune on a quest to test the strength of her love against the powerful forces of prejudice, hatred and death. With its poignant story and catchy Caribbean flavored score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty writers of such hit Broadway Musicals as Seussical and their Tony Award Winning Ragtime , Once On This Island is a feast for the heart, mind, and soul.
Once On This Island
Directed by Don Smith and Paula Taylor
Book and Lyrics by: Lynn Ahrens
Music by: Stephen Flaherty
Based on My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy
After we meet Ti Moune and hear of her hopes and wants in life, the gods of Earth, Water, Love, and Death contemplate how to guide Ti Moune's life. In this song, "And The Gods Heard Her Prayer," they decide to allow Ti Moune to have her grand homme to prove whether love or death is more powerful. They will each play an important part in her journey.
The Opening number of Once On This Island, "We Dance" introduces the storytellers that will guide the audience through the story of Ti Moune. The peasants describe their world; their lives are ruled by powerful gods and their island is run by the wealthy "grands hommes." They explain that the peasants and the grands hommes belong to "two different worlds, never meant to meet", but true happiness is found on their side of the island through dance.
West of Pecos
 
    This comedy is full of great characters. There is Montana the young female, journalist, ranger, Roy Bean’s sidekick, Johnny Behingd the Ace, the town’s villain and his sidekick Spurs. There is Zerelda the sweet young girl who is in love with Orin and of course their mothers. Socrates Fogg is the lawyer who comes to save Orin from hangin’ and of course Snowfeather the Indian girl who works at the restaurant. Along with townspeople, train passengers and other cowboys, this play is the perfect blend of comedy and western appeal fit for a fall performance.
Director: Jan Barker
Auditions are held on Friday September 5th.
Rehearsals are Friday evenings from 6-9
Performances November 22nd & 23rd
 
Call Oakbrook Academy to sign up for an audition time 630-928-0936
 
 
 
“Lucky Stiff”
 
    Ahreans & Flaherty exploded on the musical theatre scene with this zany, offbeat, and very funny murder mystery farce about an unassuming English shoe salesman forced to take the corpse of his recently-murdered uncle on a week-long vacation to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed, Harry Witherspoon stands to inherit $6,000,000. If not, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. The proceedings are sheer lunacy as Harry comes up against his uncle’s insanely jealous and legally blind girlfriend, her much put-upon optometrist brother and Annabel Glick, a zealous representative from the Universal Dog Home determined to see Harry’s inheritance “go to the dogs.” Featuring an ensemble cast full of zany characters, this is the perfect challenge with a mix of fun for the older actors.
 
Director: Don Smith
Auditions are held on Saturday Sept. 6th. (4:00pm-7:00pm)
Rehearsals are Saturdays from 3-7
Performances December 6th & 7th.
 
Call Oakbrook Academy to sign up for an audition time 630-928-0936