Communications

September 16th
All Parents 6 -7pm
Current & New Members 7-8:30pm

Every Fall we invite our Members Parents and Guardians to attend our kickoff meeting. As Advisors, we cannot stress the importance of your attendance at this meeting. We try to make it as clear as possible that without your involvement and understanding of what we do, we cannot continue to provide level of expertise that we try to achieve and pass along to your children.

Please attend this meeting where we will cover new security measures that we are putting in place, thoughts and ideas that we have worked on throughout the summer and continue to work on. For the first time we have complete schedules that are posted on our calendar, in addition areas where we truly need your help and support will be discussed. If you can do even just a little to help us achieve our goals or if you are new to the organization, it is even more important that you attend.

If you have seen any of our productions you know how involved the advisors are and how dedicated the advisors, truly become. We are without a doubt, a family. After the initial meeting with parents, we will hold our Open House for all members new current and pit orchestra where we will continue to discuss our cast, auditions, the shows, and so much more.

MAN OF LA MANCHA is set in the late 1500s, when Miguel de Cervantes is thrown into prison by the Spanish Inquisition. Having failed as a soldier and as a playwright, Cervantes
was working as a tax collector—until he made the mistake of foreclosing on a church. Now Cervantes and his manservant face a group of fellow prisoners, who stage a mock trial before the inmate known as “The Governor.” Faced with the loss of
all his possessions, including a tattered manuscript, Cervantes proposes that his defense will take the form of a play. He begins to spin the tale of Alonso Quijana, “a country squire…no longer young…bony, hollow faced…eyes that burn with the fire of inner vision.” Quijana, having read too many tales of heroic knights in the age of chivalry, declares he will become a knight- errant—Don Quixote de la Mancha—traveling the countryside righting all wrongs. Cervantes’s manservant takes on the role of Don Quixote’s faithful companion, Sancho Panza.

Quixote battles a “giant”—in reality, one of the many windmills that dot the landscape of the plains of La Mancha. He is defeated, retreating to a “castle”—really a roadside inn. The inn is populated by rough mule drivers (muleteers); the kitchen serving-wench, Aldonza, scorns their advances, making no secret of her low beginning and harsh life. (“I was spawned in a ditch by a mother who left me there….”)

Quixote sees the boisterous muleteers as fellow knights and believes the hard-edged Aldonza to be a beautiful noble lady, whom he calls “Dulcinea” (meaning “sweetness”). Aldonza is confused by this; no one has ever treated her with kindness.

Cervantes now takes the story to Quijana’s home, where his niece Antonia and her fiancé, Dr. Carrasco, along with the housekeeper and Quijana’s friend Padre Perez, worry about Quijana’s increasingly erratic behavior. Although they each declare they are “only thinking of him,” it’s clear that they are determined to put a stop to Quijana’s antics and bring him home.

While Quixote admires “Dulcinea” from afar, Aldonza confronts Sancho: she asks why he follows a madman like Quixote. Sancho replies that he simply likes Quixote; Aldonza, alone, wonders what Quixote could possibly see in a woman like her. Meanwhile, the muleteers jeer at Aldonza and her eccentric admirer.

A wandering barber arrives at the inn. Quixote believes the barber’s brass shaving basin to be a magical golden helmet that makes its wearer invulnerable and demands that the barber give it to him. Dr. Carrasco and the Padre witness this. Carrasco is certain that Quijana/Quixote is mad, while the Padre is not so sure.

The Innkeeper, whom Quixote believes to be the “Lord of the Castle,” agrees to dub Quixote a knight once he has spent a night holding vigil. As he meditates alone, Aldonza interrupts him. She cannot understand—why does he do these things? He replies that it is necessary to follow the quest—every knight’s mission.

When the lead muleteer abuses Aldonza, Quixote leaps to her defense, leading to a fight between Quixote (aided by Sancho

Pictured: Geoff Elliott, Kasey Mahaffy. Photo by Craig Schwartz.

and Aldonza) and the gang of muledrivers. Quixote is victorious and is dubbed a knight by the Innkeeper. Meanwhile, Quixote is unaware that the angry muleteers have abducted Aldonza in revenge.

Setting out on the road once more, Quixote and Sancho are attacked by thieves, who take everything they have. When they return to the inn, they find Aldonza, who has been beaten bloody by the muleteers. She expresses her frustration and rage at ever having believed in Quixote’s dreams.

The Knight of the Mirrors, whom Quixote sees as his mortal enemy, the Enchanter, enters and challenges Quixote to a duel. As they battle, Quixote is struck by his reflection in the Knight’s mirrored shield—he sees himself for the broken old man that he truly is. The Knight reveals himself to be Dr. Carrasco.

The guards interrupt the story to inform Cervantes that he will soon be taken to face the Inquisitors. He asks for enough time to conclude his story.

Alonso Quijana, no longer Don Quixote, lays in his bed at home, surrounded by his family. His spirit has been broken; he is dying. Fighting her way through his family, Aldonza comes to Quijana’s side. He does not recognize her and does not know her name. She pleads with him, saying that he once called her “Dulcinea,” and he begins to remember. She reminds him of the words of his quest—“to dream the impossible dream.” Quixote dies as the Padre prays over him, and Aldonza declares that she is now Dulcinea.

Cervantes’s story is finished: the prisoners give him his manuscript, as the guards return to remove him from the
cell and bring him before the officials of the Inquisition. As Cervantes is lead out of the prison, the inmates join together, singing Quixote’s song of his impossible dream. ♦

Just a small taste of this amazing and beautiful story.

An Evening With Will ~ Shakespeare That Is!!

On March 14 and 15 a very special event will take place. The Beacon Players and Spack Onstage will share the stage at both Beacon High School and at Spackenkill High School.

Each group will select 3 scenes from different plays from William Shakespeare to perform, and one scene will be performed by a combined group from both schools, on Friday 3/14 the show will be performed at Spackenkill H.S. and on Saturday 3/15. We will not charge for admission but will set up Donation Boxes wherever possibile.

GUYS & DOLLS

Hailed as the perfect musical comedy, this award-winning classic gambles with luck and love under the bright lights of Broadway.

Considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy, Guys and Dollsran for 1,200 performances when it opened on Broadway in 1950. It received nearly unanimous positive reviews from critics and won a bevy of awards, including Tony Awards, Drama Desks and Oliviers. Frequently revived, the show has been done with numerous all-star casts, including productions/concerts featuring Ewan McGregor, Jane Krakowski, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jessica Biel.

Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, Guys and Dolls is an oddball romantic comedy. Gambler, Nathan Detroit, tries to find the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend and nightclub performer, Adelaide, laments that they’ve been engaged for fourteen years. Nathan turns to fellow gambler, Sky Masterson, for the dough, and Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown, as a result. Guys and Dolls takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafes of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City, but eventually everyone ends up right where they belong.

Frank Loesser’s brassy, immortal score makes Guys and Dolls a crowd pleaser. The large cast features both a variety of ensemble and star roles. With a great collection of production resources from MTI, this highly producible show is a treat for audiences and performers of any age.

ALL TIME SLOTS ARE FILLED, PLEASE CONTACT US FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Hello and thanks for signing up for our One on One Meetings. The meetings will be about 45 minutes long and will be held in the Main Office Conference Room.

Thanks

To all of our Parents and Friends,
We are beginning our Membership Support Drive today and would like to invite you to help us reach our goal. We are very much self funded with the support of the District. All of our sets, costumes, lighting, sound, is all self funded. Stipends and currently licensing have been paid for by the district at the goodwill of the Superintendent have been covered by the district and we are extremely grateful for that. We reach thousands of people

The expenses for our shows are very high however, the quality is also extremely high, and we raise the bar each year, giving our members the students, the ability to learn more and more, giving them the tools for either pursuing theater, both technically and performance should they choose that path.

We strive to do as much as we can for our members in so many different aspects and elements of theater and are asking for your help in membership, support of our organization, similar to a sports booster. Take a look at Membership Support, your help is needed and greatly appreciated.

Thanks, and please come and see “The Phantom of the Opera”

The Beacon Players at Beacon High School cordially invite you to join us on an epic journey, face challenges head-on, make new friends and experience the powerful gift of participating in an ensemble production. It doesn’t matter if you are joining us as a Freshman or a Senior, Parent or Guardian, we want the experience to be extraordinary.

After last Spring’s success with Les Miserables, we wanted to sustain the momentum and challenges by presenting Phantom of the Opera. We are very excited about this upcoming production.

It is vital that each parent and/or guardian is aware of the various elements that make up the Beacon Players. Things have changed this year and we want to be fully transparent in areas of communication, support, commitment, academic standards and much, much more.

It is important that parents and guardians understand why we need your help, we are essentially a team of 6 adult volunteers and teachers that collect a contract stipend which frankly is very little. With a show the size of this one, we need all the help we can get and a full understanding of how we work.

The mandatory meeting is so we can explain all the facets of the organization and how you can physically help or support us in other ways. It truly takes a village. If you saw our production of Les Miserables, you have an understanding of the concept.

We will explain all of our security measures and our emergency details. It is important for all of our parents and guardians to understand this process.

If your child is in an upper grade and you have attended our meetings before, this one will be different, so your attendance is necessary as we are introducing new policies and guidelines surrounding conflicts, auditions and call backs, crews and our new Younger Company.

The Parent Meeting will be held on Friday, September 15th at 7:00pm in the Large Instructional Classroom (LGI). Attendance at the meeting is mandatory for ALL parents and guardians and is a requirement for acceptance into the program—we do this because although we know that we have many parents returning, it is important to welcome new parents into the family and renew our community.

We look forward to working with you and making this a great experience for everyone involved. If you have any questions or issues, please feel free to contact any of us. Here’s to a great show!
Best regards and thank you,

****UPDATE – We truly hope that you will consider joining The Beacon Players Parents Association (BPPA)2023/2024, we need help from everyone. You can sign up on the home page Click on ABOUT – We hope you will! All are welcome!