The 70 plus youngsters who spent a good chunk of their summer vacations rehearsing for “The Lion King, Jr.” gave their final performance this past Sunday afternoon to a full house of an appreciative audience at the Sampson Community Theater.

The public has been very supportive of the youth in our county and this show was a delight to watch as the five-year olds (kindergarten agers) acted like they had been born on the big stage and under the direction of Angela Martin they performed beautifully.

The costumes were unusual (and expensive) which added to the drama of the action taking place and which the youngsters wore with pride. All in all a good time was had by all who got a seat to watch this summer blockbuster and we are grateful to Prestage Farms and Larry King Associates for their sponsorship.

Auditions for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” will be held this Saturday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. at the Sampson Community Theater. Directed by Dan Holland, performances are the first two weekends of October.

Several of our veteran actors are lending their talents to local theaters. Clay Boney, Isabelle Moore and Eli Bradley will appear in Goldsboro at the Center Stage Theatre in Stephen Sondheim’s “Into The Woods” on Sept. 16-17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. You may purchase tickets by calling 910-583-8432, in person at the box office or on line at www.cstheatre.org

Sarah Day, one of our popular actors, after a rigorous examination, was selected to spend part of her summer at Governor’s School East where she studied Theater under counselors and others. Over the coming weeks her impression of the courses and the things she learned will be presented to you in her words.

The first part follows: “Governor School East was one of the best experiences of my life. I always heard nothing but great things from alumni, but I don’t think you can truly appreciate the program unless you experience it for yourself. Each day, besides Sunday, began at 9 a.m. in the morning and consisted of classes named Area I, Area II, and Area III. There were ten different subjects of Area I, but mine was theater. Our class of only 16 began as strangers, but ended as a family. After only the first week, we were constantly collaborating to make amazing things. Our main goal was to create an original piece of devised theater. Devised theater is a form of theater where the script originates from improvisational work. As an ensemble, together we learned how to write our own show, work with conventional and unconventional lighting of a stage, and design our own set. We did numerous improv activities to help create our show and even were assigned to tell a story without speaking. This was extremely challenging, but we learned how to portray our emotions with only our facial expressions, movement of our bodies, and lighting. Not only did we do hands on activities, but also had research projects and evaluated scripts. We visited the art museum in Raleigh to have a visual representation of what we wanted our show to look and feel like. In the end, we performed our show, “Alien Sun,” which was based off the superhero comic Superman. We questioned, “How do we define who we are in spite of how others define us?” by explaining how the privileged, white, American, male, Clark Kent (superman’s secret identity) is no longer our America and we need to break through stereotypes to find our own true identity.”

Upcoming events

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat — Directed by Dan Holland. Auditions Saturday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. Performances first two weekends of October.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — TBA

Christmas Show — TBA

Thoughts until next week:

You cannot spend your way out of a recession or borrow you way out of debt.

Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace, good people do not go into government.

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By Bruce Caldwell

Contributing columnist

Dr. Bruce Caldwell is on the board of directors for Sampson Community Theatre.