A mix of fun, treasure hunting and swashbuckling comes to ShenanArts‘ stage this weekend with a production of “Treasure Island” by Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School students.
Director Cassy Maxton-Whitacre, who teaches theatre, film and communications at SVGS, said the choice was made by her students and herself that Brit C. Ward’s adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s classic novel best suit the cast.
“I think it certainly feels recognizable but also it’s a very fresh take on [the novel]. It doesn’t feel like a super traditional adaptation,” Maxton-Whitacre said.
SVGS’s performances this weekend are the first of Ward’s adaption in Virginia and the first by high school students.
Ward’s adaption includes an additional character who is female and the main character is “Jennifer Hawkins” instead of “Jim Hawkins.”
Maxton-Whitacre and her students have been in touch with Ward during the rehearsal process and he is excited that a high school cast is presenting his adaptation. Eighteen students will bring the story to the stage.
“I hope that they just feel like they got to go along on an adventure, on a journey with us,” Maxton-Whitacre said of what she hopes audience members take from seeing the production. “They actually have a little escapism, a little bit of fun swashbuckling, rollicking time and feel like they got to have an adventure.”
“Capt. Alexander Smollett” is brought to the stage by Wilson Memorial High School junior Joe Pincock, who prepared by studying the speech of a pirate and the mannerisms of individuals living in the mid-17th Century.
Audiences previously saw Pincock as the Von Trapp patriarch in DMR Adventures’ “The Sound of Music” and “Sir Harry” in Wilson Memorial‘s “Once Upon a Mattress.” Performing in theater since a musical in 4th grade, Pincock said previous roles as leaders on stage prepared him to become “Smollett.”
“It’s that kind of leadership but this [role is] like how was a captain in pirate ages? I had to really dive in to how did people act,” Pincock said.
Before the production, Pincock’s experience with the story was having seen “The Muppets’ Treasure Island.”
“I think it’s a classic tale. I want the talent here to be recognized and the audience feels the work that we’ve been putting in because it’s been really hard with the snow,” Pincock said of his classmates.
Despite weather challenges, Pincock said the cast’s talents will bring the feeling and emotion of the story to audiences.
“And just see a great portrayal of a classic tale,” he said.
Pincock hopes to pursue a career in theater after high school by attending Shenandoah Conservatory.
Audiences recently saw Fish Trella-Luedtke as one of the “Emmelines” in “Three Emmelines” at Staunton High School in early December. The stage production earned Staunton Storm Theater the district championship in early November 2024.
Trella-Luedtke was previously in “Sympathy Jones,” directed by Maxton-Whitacre at ShenanArts.
“I like doing different time periods. It’s like a miniature history lesson in a capsule but it’s a lot of fun playing with the different languages that you have, the different cultures you have, the different costumes especially, that’s my favorite part.”
To prepare to bring Long John Silver to the ShenanArts stage, Trella-Luendtke said she worked on his physicality as a pirate walking with a wooden leg and his speech. Silver’s talent lies in how he speaks and how he talks himself into and out of places.
“You don’t really know what he’s going to do next,” Trella-Luedtke said of the role, which she approached not as thinking Silver as a bad or good individual. Silver was who he was and a product of his time period.
Trella-Luedtke’s experience with “Treasure Island” before the SVGS production was the 2002 animated science fiction film by Disney called “Treasure Planet.”
Trella-Luedtke hopes audiences enjoy the production.
“It’s a classic tale but this author has put kind of a spin on it, it’s different. It’s different and I hope that it subverts some expectations but also that people enjoy it.”
“Treasure Island” will be presented at ShenanArts, 300 Churchville Ave., Staunton, Thursday, January 23 to Saturday, January 25, 2025 at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, January 26 at 3 p.m. Tickets are available online.
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Rebecca Barnabi
