Stage 2 brings ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ to McCain Theater
The McCain Theater turned into an enchanted world – for just a weekend - thanks to
the efforts of MCC’s Arts & Letters Series group, Stage 2.
The troupe performed two-evening and one matinee run of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The audience got the chance to become enveloped in the life of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. To return to his human self, the Beast must learn to love and be loved – all under a time limit. If not, he and his household will be doomed for all time.
Stage 2 is a theatrical training group for youths 13-10. Participants learn more than just lines; they are involved in committees, helping with costumes, set design, props, advertisement and fundraising. In addition, emphasis is on character development, teamwork and community service.
Cast members included Beau Batchelor, Young Prince/Shepard Boy/Spoon 1/Ensemble; Kate Brand, Cogsworth; Grace Brown, Belle; Maddy Clayton, Narrator/Silly Girl/Featured Dancer; Ella Coleman, Villager Friend/Featured Dancer; Amelia Crowell, Lady with Baby/Salt Shaker/Ensemble; Stacy Davis, Baker/Gaston’s Crony/Wisk/Ensemble; Bella Dennis, Angry Wife Villager/Pepper Shaker; Mandy Farmer, Milkmaid/Fork 1/Ensemble; Madison Fowler/Villager Trio Solo/Candlestick/Ensemble; Catherine Freeman, Enchantress, Featured Dancer/Ensemble;
Rylee Hailey, Ribbon Seller/Fork 2; Mary E. Honeycutt, Mrs. Potts; Daylon Horton, LeFou; Emily Huebner, Wardrobe; Kylee Keenan, Villager/Knife 2/Ensemble; Patrick Martin, Beast; Nathan Metcalf, Bookseller/Gaston’s Crony/Knife 3/Ensemble; Katie Miles, Aristocrat Lady Solos/Napkin/Ensemble; Caroline Nelson, Egg Seller Solos/Grater/Ensemble; Sean-Patrick O’Neil, D’Arque/Plate 2/Ensemble; Ava Parker, Villager/Chip; Madelyn Parker, Plate/Ensemble; Amad Pasha, Lumiere; Caroline Prewitt, Babette; Cooper Ransieer, Villager/Caryatid/Ensemble; Jade Saxon, Narrator/Villager/Spoon 3/Ensemble; Cate Simmons, Silly Girl; Ephraim Smith, Maurice;
Katelynn Smith, Dance Captain/Featured Dancer; Luke Thomas, Gaston; Madison Waters, Narrator/Fish Seller Solos/Plate 4/Ensemble; Virginia White, Rug/Ensemble; Jayden Williams, Hat Seller/Place Card/Ensemble; and Natalie Wilson, Silly Girl.
Susie Johnson, Arts & Letters Series director, serves as the founder of Stage 2.
Getting the word out: Virginia White serves as marketing intern for Stage 2
As a marketing intern for Stage 2, Virginia White, 19, of Meridian, has had a busy month getting Disney’s Beauty and the Beast ready for the public from designing, creating and publicizing promotional material as well as acting as the Rug character and in the ensemble.
“It’s been going really well,” White said of the play. She explained there was a short turn around after Hairspray, the last production in the theater, ended and when her intern work on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast began.
White is a rising sophomore at the University of Mississippi, studying integrated marketing communications with a public relations specialty. But she got her collegiate start at MCC, taking dual enrollment classes including College Algebra, Trigonometry, Physical Science I and II, American Literature, English Composition I and Macroeconomics. “I had 26 hours from MCC before I went to Ole Miss,” she said.
“It did help me having the basics done here,” White said.
After she finishes her internship with Stage 2 and before she returns to Oxford for her fall studies, White will intern with The Meridian Star advertising department.