July 22, 2011
Pat Rick: An amazing, hilarious and faith-filled experience
Anna Bittner portrays St. Peter and Jennifer Riedford is Sister Caroline in the play “The Life and Times of Pat Rick,” which was presented by the St. Maria Goretti Youth Group. Participants included parishioners at Holy Cross Church in Fort Branch, St. James and Sts. Peter and Paul churches, both in Haubstadt, and St. Bernard Church in Snake Run. (Photo courtesy of Jill Sorg) Click for a larger version.
By JILL SORG (Special to the Message)
Dear John Jacob Jinglehammer Newspaper,
Sorry I haven’t written much; I was hard at work on a brand new musical based on my life. It is called “The Life and Times of Pat Rick,” and the kids in the St. Maria Goretti Youth Group helped me put it on.
Jacob Sellers and Melinda Weiss helped me put the script together, and Anna Bittner took care of the music. Sellers directed it for me, too.
“My favorite part of directing is creating ‘moments,’” Sellers said, “creating special moments that either look good or will really connect emotionally with the audience.”
The whole musical was told through my diary entries, read by Weiss. She was the one to really flesh out my character in the show.
“I developed him completely by accident,” Weiss said. “In last year’s musical, I was told I’d be a janitor. To make it more interesting, I decided to make him male. With a mustache. Back-stage I began to write his diary, as entries written to ‘John Jacob Jinglehammer Diary.’”
This youth group has been putting on musicals for three summers now, and it was during “IDK, My BFF Jesus?” last summer that my character was born. Bittner wrote the music for that and “Letters To God” the summer before.
Bittner’s favorite part of these productions is working with and meeting new people, as well as the religious message. “It has a really good religious message, but we’re not shoving theology down people’s throats. It’s about love, and that simplicity is something the young generation needs to see.”
Weiss liked that this musical got her sister Rachel Weiss involved. “I like watching my sister enjoy herself and develop into a good actress.”
There were around 20 kids involved as actors, actresses, directors and crew members. Weiss portrayed “Diary Pat Rick,” the Pat Rick that read from the diary, while Cecilia Hall played Pat Rick, who actually took part in the scenes. Alison Goedde is Alice Fidelle, a feminist girl who picked on Hall’s Pat Rick in kindergarten but was secretly in love with him. Other actors and actresses were Kate Bittner, Veronica Bittner, Drew Steinmetz, Jackie Goedde, Delaney Spindler, Kenzie Hart, Jennifer Riedford, Olivia Mayer, Raechel Kiesel and Nick Sellers. Anna Sorg and Michael Parrish ran the sound and lights, and Tara Sorg choreographed the dance numbers.
This was Hall’s first lead role. She really liked it, but it was a bigger load than she’s used to. “There’s definitely more pressure, but I like it. It keeps me busy during rehearsal.”
The show was performed on July 15, 16 and 17 in the Holy Cross School cafeteria in Fort Branch. The first two shows included a dinner served by members of the St. Maria Goretti Youth Group, and the third show was a matinee performance.
The kids went through so much to be able to perform the show on schedule; they even had to drain the cafeteria. The drains outside the school clogged up during the heavy rains on July 12, so the water started filling up the cafeteria.
“We had just set up all the tables and chairs for the dinner theater when we noticed the water. We had to push everything up against the inside wall to keep it from getting wet,” said Tara Sorg.
Despite the obstacles, the St. Maria Goretti Youth Group managed to draw crowds totaling 275 people with their performances of “The Life and Times of Pat Rick.” They raised about $2,100 to help send members of the youth group on retreats and trips. Keith Dewig, the director of the youth group, said he is “very proud of the kids and everything they did.”
“It was an amazing, hilarious and faith-filled experience,” said Sellers.
Love,
Pat Rick