Linda Becken
Reymundo and Kelsey rehearsing a scene.

It is a tradition that every year Saint James Theater Department hosts a musical in the fall, this year the chosen musical is “Mamma Mia.” Linda Becken has been the director for about 35 years. We have a musical instructor: Cathy Lick, Accompanist: Glenda Hedlund, and we have a band: Doug Becken- guitar and Kevin Spitzner- drums.

Linda Becken
Luci and Miguel focusing very hard on their scene.

The cast of Mamma Mia has been working really hard from memorizing lines, singing, choreography, and set changes. The first month of practice was really hard to accomplish because of fall sports, but they were able to get together more once fall sports came to an end. Linda held auditions for the play on September 9-11th then assigned parts, and the first practice was September 16th at 7 pm. The school performance is Wednesday, November 13th at 1 pm for Juniors and Seniors, the opening night is Thursday, November 14th at 7:30 pm, and closing night is Friday, November 15th at 7:30 pm.

Linda Becken
Some of the cast going through a scene.

I interviewed Luci, Nick, and Linda and asked them a few questions about the play. 1) How have the practices been for you? 2) How many years have you done theater? 3) How do you think the performances will go? 4) What’s your favorite thing about this play so far? 5) How do you feel after performances?

Luci- 1) “The practices have been kind of stressful actually because up until now memorizing lines have always been hard for me especially since were such busy students. But the practices have also been fun and they’ve been enjoyable because you get to know people that you normally don’t get to know.” 2) “I remember doing Seven Brides with my mom when I was like six and I’ve done it ever since.” 3) “I think they’ll be pretty decent, I mean the rehearsals have been a little iffy with lines here and they’ll be decent.” 4) “I love Mamma Mia and it’s such fun play, the music is really catchy and the whole story is really fun.” 5) “I feel relieved because I don’t have to memorize my lines, performing, and acting. But it also feels really good because you’ve accomplished something as a group, and you have brought joy to people.

Linda Becken
An interesting diary

Nick- 1) “The practices for me have been kind of rough I’m a big procrastinator so, me learning my lines have been a big problem, other than that everything’s going well.” 2) “I think this is my third year!” 3) “I think the performances will go fine, we always pull it together the last week of play practice which is this week. We always get nervous but we always pull it together. 4) “I love the music, and just about any play in general. Also, the people that are out for it, is such a family orientated welcoming environment and everyone is happy to be there and even though practices do end up being a little late sometimes it’s just always really fun.” 5) “After performances, I’m really tired and I want to go home, but everyone ends up going to McDonald’s after the first performance which is really fun and we eat a lot. Then the last performance night we have a cast party which is really fun; we stay up super late, we eat really bad food, drink very bad pop which is not good for you but we do it anyways cause why not.”

Linda Becken
The girls.

Linda- 1) “They’ve been very typical, fall apart in the beginning and then finally come together at the end.” 2) “Probably about thirty-five years.” 3) “They’re going to be awesome.” 4) “That’s hard to narrow down, I really like working with you guys. I do it because of you guys otherwise I wouldn’t do it, and it’s nice that it’s something that Doug and I can do together.” 5) “Relieved. Totally.”

Cast:

Sophie: Luci Kulseth

Sky: Lucas Anderson

Donna: Kelsey Sagehorn

Sam: Nick Brey

Tanya: Emma Zender

Rosie: Gabby Trapero

Harry: Reymundo Cardenas

Bill: Miguel Martinez

Lisa: Makenna Rotert

Ali: Mya Hansen

Pepper: Logan Carlson

Eddie: Kaylem Velasco

Father: Issac Carstensen

Chorus: Teresa Tobar, Emma Anderson, Kayl Johnson, Clarie Watson, and Mykela Hansen.

Linda Becken
Cast practicing choreography.