Curtain rises at 8 p.m. for musical comedy
Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 19-21, Forum Theatre
Tickets: $8-students; $15–general public
UPPER BURRELL, Pa. – With lines, lyrics, dance steps and timing perfected, the cast of Penn State New Kensington’s musical comedy, "The Toxic Avenger," is ready for the opening of a three–day run at 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19, in the Forum Theatre.
After months of rehearsal, the campus’ Drama Club members have learned their lines, hit their marks and cultivated a stage presence. Following the first night are performances on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21. The curtain goes up at 8 p.m. each evening. The show is geared to mature audiences.
The cast features Colin Bibza as Melvin Ferd the Third and Toxie, Laura Gensamer as Sarah, and Samantha Kravits as Mayor. In addition to the main characters, the supporting cast includes Jonathan McCabe, Nathan Traini, Juliann Motosicky and Ian Callender. The play is directed by Bill Mitas, instructor in theatre at the campus.
"The cast and crew are working very hard and doing an excellent job,” said Mitas, who is directing his 13th campus production. “They are putting in a great deal of time learning the difficult music and choreography.”
Tickets are $8 for students with ID and $15 for the general public. For more information, call 724-334-6032.
The students
Three New Kensington students - Kravitz, Callender and McCabe - have pivotal roles in the production. Kravits and Callender are freshmen making their college stage debuts. Kravits plays dual roles as the corrupt mayor and Melvin’s mother. A veteran of numerous productions at Knoch High School, Kravits is equally at ease behind the scenes, where she is adept with hair, make-up and costumes. Callendar, a computer science major from Burrell High School, plays a variety of characters, including a waste management executive and police chief.
McCabe, a sophomore in the Psychology program, performs in his third campus production. He previously had roles in “Beyond Therapy” and “Into the Woods.” The Burrell High School graduate is active on campus and a member of the Student Government Association, where he serves as the underclassmen faculty senate representative. Academically, he has earned scholarships each year. This year, McCabe is the recipient of two scholarships: Gertrude A. “Trudi” Miller Clements-Booth Trustee Matching Scholarship and Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation Scholarship. Last year, he received the campus’ Dr. N.A. Kopelman and Freda D. Kopelman Trustee Scholarship.
Juliann Motosicky, right, played Rizzo, one of the Pink Ladies,
with Alexia Kabazie, left, as Marty and Jillian Snoznik as Jan
in the 2011 Penn State New Kensington production of “Grease.”
Motosicky returns as choreographer for "The Toxic Avenger."
The alumna
Motosicky, who graduated from the campus in 2012 after earning a bachelor’s degree in corporate communications, is the choreographer, as well as an actor. She choreographed the campus musicals when she was an undergraduate and is grateful for the opportunity to work again under Mitas and to work with current students.
“It's great to give back to the students and community, and to share my experiences and passion with them while on stage, and as I teach,” said Motosicky, a financial services associate for First Commonwealth Bank.
The Fawn Township resident draws on her experiences in 2011 at Walt Disney World. An internship is a requirement for the Corporate Communications program at the campus, and Motosicky secured one with the Disney College program. She spent a semester as an attractions cast member, working in the Innovations building at Epcot.
“It was such a great experience and an awesome networking opportunity,” said Motosicky, who twice won the Best Actor award at the campus’ annual Academic and Student Achievement Awards ceremony. “I was able to go on auditions and casting calls for Disney, so that was really cool. I met so many people from all around the world and still to this day I talk to most of them.”
The internship also led to some television and film work. Motosicky was in the Nickelodeon TV series, “Supah Ninjas” and a Lionsgate feature film, “Abduction.”
When she is not choreographing ”The Toxic Avenger” musical numbers, Motosicky will play several characters.
The play
Set in Tromaville, New Jersey, the comedy focuses on Melvin Ferd the Third, the town nerd who takes an involuntary dip in a vat of toxic waste after raising concerns about the dubious nature of the mayor’s waste management strategies. In an auspicious turn of events, he emerges from the vat as the Toxic Avenger, a deformed but cut Superhero, who seeks vengeance on just about every reprobate this side of Hoboken. Also known as Toxie, the new hero is a seven-foot mutant freak with superhuman strength and a heart as big as Hacketstown. Melvin’s dance card is full as he saves his hometown from the duplicitous mayor and his morally bankrupt minions, while ending global warming, and wooing the town’s librarian, the love interest of the socially inept Melvin. Sarah is the beautiful and blind librarian who sees Toxie as a hunk of virulent love.
“It is hilarious and the music is fantastic,” Mitas said. “It does contain adult language and is rated as PG by Music Theatre International."
The play is based on the 1984 film of the same name. Music and lyrics are by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro, who also wrote the book for the movie. The production opened off-Broadway in 2009 and ran for 300 performances. It earned the Outer Critics Award for Best New Off-Broadway Musical.
Mitas wanted to do the show in 2013. Legal issues necessitated an almost three-year wait.
“The royalties for the production were not released until June of this year,” Mitas said. “I inquired bout royalties two years ago, and we were put on an ‘early release notice list,' so we could be apply as soon as they were available.”
The director
Mitas, who holds a master’s degree in entertainment technology from Carnegie Mellon University, joined the campus faculty in 2009. Last year, he was honored with an Excellence in Teaching award at the campus’ annual Academic and Student Achievement ceremony. The award recognizes campus faculty contributions in teaching. The principal criterion is excellent classroom performance, but excellence in other activities such as advising, supervision of learning outside the classroom and course development are also considered.
The Lower Burrell resident retired in June as professor of entertainment design/industrial design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where he taught for 26 years. He has worked in the design field for the past 39 years. In addition to directing, Mitas is an accomplished set designer, technical director, and actor, as well as graphic designer and sculptor.
The stage manager
Wati Kumwenda, a sophomore in the Biomedical Engineering Technology program, helps Mitas behind the scenes as stage manager. A native of the Republic of Malawi in southeast Africa, the versatile Kumwanda has worked on two previous campus productions as assistant director (“Beyond Therapy”) and lead actor as Little Red Riding Hood in “Into the Woods.”
As an international student enrolled at the campus, Kumwenda is active in extracurricular activities. She is a member of the Multicultural club, and read a Maya Angelou poem in February at the campus’ Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. Last year, she attended the Robert D. Lynch Student Leadership Development Institute in Lancaster, Pa. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education Inc., the conference is designed to address topics essential to developing leadership skills for African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and other multicultural college students. The event gives students an opportunity to participate in workshops that examine cross-cultural communication, interpersonal relations, inclusive environments, and cultural awareness. Kumwenda was particularly impressed by the workshop that emphasized being different.
“As people of color in a predominantly white society, college campuses in particular, we often struggle to embrace the fact that we are different,” Kumwenda said. “Sometimes we fail to handle certain prejudices that are fueled by commonplace stereotypes. As an African student, I face the added pressure of coming from a culturally different background. This conference helped me realize that I am not alone, and it’s important to take things in strides; what might seem like an offensive comment might actually just be misplaced curiosity. It is important for us to teach our counterparts -- those who are willing to learn -- to shatter preconceived or misinformed ideas about minorities.”
The Toxic Avenger
William R. Mitas: director
Beth Minda: vocals coach
Juliann Motosicky: choreography
Rob Stull: orchestra
Wati Kumwenda: stage manager
Mathew Mlynarski: costumes
Cast
Colin Bibza
Melvin Ferd the III/Toxie
Laura Gensamer
Sarah, Judy, Little Girl (Rescued Cat)
Samantha Kravits
Mayor; Ma
Jonathan McCabe
White Dude/ Folk Singer/Bozo/CoCo/Thug/Lamas/CSI Guy/Hooker
Nathan Traini
Black Dude/Sluggo/Professor Ken/Shinequa/Jazmin/Lorenzo/FRed the Local Guy/Mickey/Concerned and Unconcerned Citizen
Juliann Motosicky
Old Lady(Edna Ferbert)/Diane/Nun/Juan/Waste Management Executive/Little Old Lady
Ian Challender
Destiny/Doctor//Hip Dude//Waste Management Exec/Toxie Junior/Sal the Cop/ Chief of Police