Dilettantes

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Sunday, March 19, 2017 |

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Capitol catch-up

CSI heads to Hutchinson

Taxes, roads bills up in the air NEWS, A2

Golden Eagles look for redemption SPORTS, D1

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SUNDAY, MARCH 19, 2017

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magicvalley.com

EVIL ALTER EGO

Finalists named in super search

TF School District narrows search to replace Superintendent JULIE WOOTTON

jwootton@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS — Three finalists are in the running to become the next Twin Falls School District superintendent, the district announced Saturday.

School trustees met to interview semi-finalists and narrow down the applicant pool. The finalists are Brady Dickinson, Jim Shank and Monte Woolstenhulme.

A meet-and-greet with the finalists is slated for 4:30-6 p.m.

March 31 in the Canyon Ridge High School cafeteria.

Dickinson is director of operations for the Twin Falls School District. He has overseen the construction and opening of three new schools — including South Hills Middle School this summer — and was previously the first principal at Canyon Ridge High School when it opened in 2009.

Please see SEARCH, Page A5

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

Edward hyde, played by Garth ‘dusty’ Blackburn, brandishes a shawl he stripped from a prostitute as he revels in his evil deeds, as dilettante Group of Magic Valley rehearses Feb. 28 for its production of the musical ‘Jekyll and hyde’ at the college of Southern Idaho’s Fine arts auditorium.

These players have 58 years of community musical theater to honor every time they step on stage. dilettante Group of Magic Valley — Twin Falls’ oldest community theater troupe — spent months preparing its production of the musical “Jekyll and hyde,” and a Times-news team followed the process from auditions to the final curtain. See the story on E1.

7 activities to do over spring break JULIE WOOTTON

jwootton@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS – Spring break is a welcome relief for children and teachers alike.

But children may get antsy and bored. And that can create a headache for parents.

Here are seven options of fun things to do:

Watch movies and play with LEGOs The Twin Falls Public Library is offering a variety of free activities this week.  Kids club: There’s a

free LEGO build day from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday.  “It’s geared for elementary kids, but anyone is welcome to come,” said Erica Littlefield, youth services supervisor for the library.  Comics and coffee: 5 p.m.

Wednesday at Twin Beans Coffee Co., 144 Main Ave. E.  The event is geared toward those 16 and older.  Comics and coffee is a new program that started a few months ago. “It’s like a book club, but for comic books,” Littlefield said.

afternoon at the american Legion Post, 446 Seastrom St., in Twin Falls. doors open at 2 p.m.

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Volume 112 Issue 142

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A Lee Enterprises Newspaper

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Copyright 2017

DAVID MCHUGH

Associated Press

BADEN-BADEN, Germany — The world’s top economic powers dropped a pledge to oppose trade protectionism amid pushback from the Trump administration, which wants trade to more clearly benefit American companies and workers.

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries meeting in the southern German town of Baden-Baden issued a statement Saturday that said only that countries “are working to strengthen the contribution of trade” to their economies.

By comparison, last year’s meeting called on them to resist “all forms” of protectionism, which can include border tariffs and rules that keep out imports to shield domestic companies from competition.

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS

Please see BREAK, Page A4

 If you do one thing: Bingo is open to the public on Sunday

$3.00

clockwise from left, raymaah ronquillo, ava Spearing, Brenda Jennings, alexis Lancaster and Olivia Molina all go for the “ball” during a game of balloon volleyball Thursday at the Boys and Girls club of Magic Valley in Twin Falls.

Top economies yield to US, drop noprotectionism pledge

BRIDGE CROSSWORD DEAR ABBY

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JUMBLE SUDOKU OBITUARIES

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OPINION SPORTS

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Times-News

THE BIG STORY

Sunday, March 19, 2017 | E1

Sunday, March 19, 2017 | magicvalley.com | SECTION E

Director Lori Henson, right, choreographer Rachael Gerlach and assistant Kayla Nebeker evaluate Kimberly Strauch’s audition for ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ — Dilettante Group of Magic Valley’s 60th show — Dec. 5 in the First Baptist Church basement in Twin Falls.

PHOTOS BY DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

How the Dilettantes make

THEATER MAGIC

Inside the troupe, from auditions to the final curtain TETONA DUNLAP

tdunlap@magicvalley.com‌

‌TWIN FALLS — In the garage behind the auditorium, director Lori Henson’s entrance ignited clapping and cheers, and Cesar Loza rushed toward her with his cellphone recording live video.

Dilettante Group of Magic Valley fans on social media were getting an inside look at the last moments before the curtain rose on “Jekyll and Hyde.”

“I want to do a few warm-ups,” Henson told the misshapen circle of performers waiting among music stands and stacks of chairs.

“Whoo! Whoo!” she led them in unison. “Yum, yum, yum!”

Loza, still holding the phone, got Henson’s attention with a slashing motion to his throat.

“Are we still live?” she said, eyes wide and mouth dropping open.

Everyone erupted in laughter.

Henson, too.

Then she turned serious. It was March 2, the opening night of five shows, and more than two months of preparation and sacrifices would pay off on stage: The long nights away from family. The dinners missed. Children asleep before parents arrived home.

Weekends of rehearsing lines and perfecting songs. Perhaps even the chorus of “Murder, Murder” still fresh in their minds as they dropped into bed.

“I have no idea how many people will be in the audience. But you know what? It doesn’t matter,” Henson told the cast and stage crew. “Anything but crisp translates to phoning it in.”

The Dilettantes, in Twin Falls’ oldest troupe, have 58 years of community musical theater to uphold every time they step on stage.

With fewer than 10 minutes left, the Dilettantes locked arms. They hung their heads as JR Clark led them in prayer and drum-heavy music from the next room penetrated the wall. In a huge huddle, they shouted a countdown in unison: “... three, two, one, showtime!”

Top: Michael Collins, as hospital governor Sir Danvers Carew, performs ‘Murder, Murder’ in a funeral scene during the show’s closing night March 5 in the College of Southern Idaho’s Fine Arts Auditorium. ‘I used to do this professionally and stopped years and years ago,’ Collins says. ‘So this is just a way to kind of remain involved in the theater world and sing and act, which I really enjoy doing.’

Please see DILETTANTES, Page E3

Video project: Even if you

saw the show, you’ve never seen this. Photojournalist Pat Sutphin’s special video story on the Dilettantes takes you behind the curtain for an intimate backstage look at the troupe. See it on Magicvalley.com today.

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Left: Suzy Stokes applies Dilettantes president Mark Wolfe’s stage makeup before the March 5 show.

MORE INSIDE: Who they are, E2 | Timeline: 6 decades of Dilettantes, E2

BIG STORY

E2 | Sunday, March 19, 2017

Times-News

WHO THEY ARE

PHOTOS BY DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Gerlach

The choreographer‌

Rachael Gerlach, 29, is part Mary Poppins and part Rambo. The psychosocial rehabilitation specialist teaches schoolchildren who have mental or emotional disorders how to interact with others and in social situations. It isn’t uncommon for her to be hit, bitten, kicked or spit on.

“I knew that I wanted to be there for the kids who were struggling,” said Gerlach, bullied in middle and high school. “Who didn’t have anybody. Who didn’t feel like they were being helped.”

Dance and theater were always her safe places, she said, “the places I could go and not be judged and not be bullied.”

Gerlach didn’t know anybody when she moved to Idaho, but a co-worker involved with the Dilettantes told her: You should come sing and dance and have fun.

Gerlach is the choreographer and a highlighted dancer in “Jekyll and Hyde,” her third Dilettantes production.

Morgan

Manning

Newberry

Hardcastle

The ensemble player‌

The actress‌

The new guy‌

The confidante‌

Rehearsals allow Kristin Morgan, 27, to escape motherhood for a few hours a night — while her husband sacrifices his basketball league games and tournaments to stay with the children.

Before she was a stay-athome mother of two — with one on the way — Morgan rode horses, scuba dived and was a Latin dance instructor. Now she teaches private voice lessons.

Shortly after moving to Twin Falls from Boise two years ago, she started looking for a community theater group to join.

A friend introduced her to the Dilettantes, and she played Gertrude McFuzz in “Seussical the Musical” last year. She’s an ensemble member for “Jekyll and Hyde” and sits on the Dilettantes board.

Morgan’s first role: “Lion” in “The Wizard of Oz,” while in seventh grade outside Chicago.

The other woman‌

There were five years in Johanna Stagge’s life when she couldn’t devote her time to theater; she was a mother of two boys, going to school online and working full time.

Life is still busy. But she finds opportunities to run, kayak and spend weekends with her husband of 19 years.

Stagge, 40, is senior director of primary care for St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center. She works with all the primary care clinics in the Magic Valley and is responsible for daily operations, im- Stagge plementing health care reforms, and improving care and customer service.

After moving to Twin Falls in 2005, she quickly got involved with Dilettantes and still has friends from the first show. In this one, she plays Lucy Harris, the main attraction at a seedy nightclub.

At 5, Sarah Manning starred in her first Dilettantes show playing Gretl von Trapp in “The Sound of Music.” She acted alongside her father, playing Captain von Trapp, and two older brothers.

While Manning grew up in Twin Falls, her family was heavily involved in community theater. On road trips the family played “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera” soundtracks instead of the radio.

Now 27, Manning plays Emma Carew, Jekyll’s fiancee, in “Jekyll and Hyde,” her sixth Dilettantes show.

“I really enjoy being on stage,” the downtown barber said, “sharing my talents and singing as a different person or character.”

Duel Newberry was in the audience, mesmerized, the last time Garth “Dusty” Blackburn starred in”Jekyll and Hyde,” in 2009.

“I always thought about the show ever since,” Newberry said. “It was that good.”

The show inspired the 16-year-old’s desire to become an actor someday. Eight years later, the 24-year-old weatherization technician had never pursed acting, but the dream was still alive. He auditioned for the same show and was cast in the ensemble.

He didn’t know anyone at first but is starting to make friends and feel like he belongs.

Ivan Hardcastle — who plays John Utterson, lawyer and confidante of Dr. Henry Jekyll — grew up in Rupert surrounded by art. His mother taught art classes and still does. Hardcastle drew when he was younger, but now he channels his creative energy into woodworking, theater and his job as an occupational therapist with Primary Therapy Source.

Hardcastle, 36, works mostly with children with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental delays.

“They are complex little puzzles,” he said. “It’s a challenge, and it’s so rewarding to see them grow.”

Hardcastle chose occupational therapy for its creative aspect.

“I love to play games and be spontaneous and fairly energetic,” he said. “I can use that to my advantage when working with kids, and they respond well.”

The star‌

You could say Garth “Dusty” Blackburn’s career landed in his lap. A personality test said he should be a nurse, so he left retail management to become one.

“It was hard,” Blackburn said.

“It was a total rewiring.”

His first clinical was nerve-wracking, and he struggled to learn medical terminology. But Blackburn approached nursing the way he approached retail: It’s about providing quality service to the client — or patient.

Blackburn, 41, has been a St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center nurse for 10 years and re- Blackburn cently transitioned into a new role as a liaison between the hospital’s clinical side and the IT department. He helped implement the hospital’s single-health-record system.

He travels for work but still finds time to play Jekyll and Edward Hyde. In late February, he drove through a snowstorm in a minivan and arrived at rehearsal with seconds to spare.

—Tetona Dunlap

Reporter Tetona Dunlap has written about local theater for nearly five years, but this is her first time to cover a production from auditions to the final curtain. “There were times,” she said, “the cast and director seemed to forget or not care I was there and I could see the real frustration and joy of community theater.”

6 DECADES OF DILETTANTES Every time they step on stage, the Dilettantes have 59 years of community musical theater to uphold.

1959

2000

The Dilettantes Hall of Fame starts with The Dilettante Group of Magic Valley — formed by notable members Roger and Mar- the induction of Art Frantz, Marty Mead, Jim garet Vincent, David and Marty Mead and LaGrone and Roger Vincent.

Harry Brumbach — stages its first annual 2001 show, “Carousel,” in the Filer High School For every ticket sold at “South Pacific,” a auditorium. dollar is donated to the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Dilettantes 1960 Magic Valley Symphony starts as Twin Falls will receive a letter from the memorial in Civic Symphony, made up of pit orchestra 2004, the year it opens to the public. musicians from “Carousel.” After starting 2008 rehearsals in fall 1959, the symphony has “Titanic” commemorates the Dilettantes’ its first performance in February in the old 50th anniversary.

O’Leary Junior High auditorium under the 2009 direction of Richard Smith, string teacher “My Fair Lady” is the last show to use a pit for Twin Falls schools. orchestra. Lori Henson is the last induction 1965 into the Dilettantes Hall of Fame.

Magic Valley Little Theatre is formed by 2007 Dilettantes who want an organization that “The Wizard of Oz” is the first time the doesn’t do musicals.

Dilettantes offer five performances instead of six and opening night is on Thursday in1973 Magic Valley Chorale is formed and a stead of Friday. board of nine directors elected. Roger Vin- 2010 cent is president and directs the Chorale for All five showings of “Beauty and the Beast” five years. sell out, and people are turned away at the door. Nearly 1,000 people attend.

1984 Marty Mead founds JuMP Co., introducing 2015 youth to the performing arts and promotDilettantes hold productions of “All Shook ing higher education. JuMP will award more Up” and “Addams Family: A New Musical than $75,000 in scholarships and community Comedy” — at the Orpheum Theatre for the donations over the years. first time.

1984

Chief photographer Drew Nash asked a Dilettante to take this portrait on the set. “Selfproclaimed theater geeks,” he said, “are some of the most caring, thoughtful, hard-working, fun-loving humans I’ve ever had the pleasure to photograph.”

PHOTOS BY DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Cast members Michael Montanus and Elyse Neria embrace before their final show March 5.

2017

The Dilettantes add a seventh show to “Jekyll and Hyde” is the Dilettantes’ 60th accommodate their audiences for “Annie,” show, though this is the group’s 59th year. a 1977 smash hit on Broadway. The show (Remember those two shows in 2015.) makes $12,600 and is one of the high—Tetona Dunlap est-grossing shows in Dilettantes history.

Director Lori Henson gets emotional during the cast’s last roll call March 5.

Photographer Pat Sutphin spent most of his time on this project shooting video rather than stills.

His special video story, published on Magicvalley.com today, gives an intimate look at the cast and crew’s backstage work and their antics.

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BIG STORY

Times-News

Sunday, March 19, 2017 | E3

Dilettantes From E1

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When Henson moved to Twin Falls in 1988, she was discouraged from auditioning for the Dilettantes. Too cliquey, she was told.

Henson knew nobody when she showed up to audition in a teal dress, red high heels and white coat, in a room where no one else was a stranger. A woman immediately greeted her, putting her at ease. Dilettantes president Art Frantz welcomed her, too.

Now, 28 years later, Henson guides the annual show from auditions to the curtain’s final fall.

For the Dec. 6 audition, Henson positioned herself behind a table in a Twin Falls church’s basement along with director assistant Kayla Nebeker, Dilettantes president Mark Wolfe and choreographer Rachael Gerlach. Garth “Dusty” Blackburn, already chosen to play Dr. Jekyll and his alter ego, Mr. Hyde, reclined in a chair next to them.

Kimberly Strauch, a newcomer, sang “All the Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s “Pocahontas.”

Henson had a word of caution for Strauch when she finished.

“I don’t want to scare you,” Henson said. “But there is a lot of adult content in this show. There are prostitutes in the show. This is not a JuMP Co.-type show.”

Gerlach showed Strauch a couple of moves to mimic, bringing her hand up slowly, swiveling on her heels, then dropping down with her legs open. Playing Beyonce’s “Rocket” on her phone, Gerlach rocked her hips alongside Strauch.

“Good job,” Gerlach said. “And you get to do it once by yourself.

What I want to see is feisty attitude.”

The court records clerk picked up the moves quickly, arching her hand gracefully above her head as leaned back.

“She’s thin,” Henson said, turning to the others after Strauch left the room. “That’s good. It’s always good when you’re skinny.”

Henson’s first Dilettantes audition for was “The King and I” — the musical that got her hooked on theater in high school as she watched from the audience and felt the pull of the spotlight. Auditioning in 1988, Henson wanted the role of Lady Thiang, the king’s head wife, but it went to someone else. That didn’t stop Henson from learning the blocking and lines, just in case. When the Lady Thiang actress couldn’t finish the show, she was ready to step in.

If you don’t get the part you want, Henson tells actors now, be in the ensemble and you might get bumped up.

Kristin Morgan flawlessly belted out “Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad” from “Bonnie & Clyde,” her voice rich and lovely. After she finished, Henson looked her in the eye.

“So I have a question for you,” Henson said. “An awkward question. How big do you get with your kids?”

A baby bump poked through Morgan’s clothes. Due in May. “That’s pretty close. I don’t think we can get around Emma,” Henson said. “I’m so happy for your family, but sad for us.”

The character Emma Carew, fiancee to Dr. Jekyll, is one of the musical’s two major female roles.

“No wonder the dad is so mad at Jekyll,” Blackburn said as the others laughed.

Morgan joked in return: There were probably pregnant bartenders in Victorian-era England.

“You think a pregnant prostitute would be more funny? Blackburn said. “There is no risk.”

“She has a lovely voice,” Henson said after Morgan left.

Many who auditioned that night said it was intimidating to step into a room of strangers and sing. But knowing the judges, like Ivan Hardcastle did, could be just as bad.

When the occupational therapist stepped forward to sing, he forgot the first lines. Then his voice cracked on a high note. He motioned to his throat, saying he’d been sick.

“You get that puberty thing worked out,” Blackburn teased.

“As you can tell,” Henson said to observers, “we know a lot of these people.”

Johanna Stagge, another Dilettantes veteran, also felt the tension.

“I think this is scarier than being on stage,” she said, waiting in the middle of the room in nude heels, purple dress and tan cardigan.

“What are you going to sing?”

Henson asked, as Stagge handed over her smartphone.

“She doesn’t know,” Blackburn said. “Just put it on random.”

Stagge really didn’t know what she would sing until stepping into the room. She decided on “Meadowlark,” and her audition was powerful and heartfelt.

Henson had her read for the part of Lucy Harris — the main

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

After a no-show baby sitter made him late, lead actor Garth ‘Dusty’ Cesar Loza cracks up laughing as Rachael Gerlach looks on during the cast Blackburn, bottom, gathers with the rest of the cast for its first rehearsal and crew’s after-party March 5 at Mark Wolfe’s Twin Falls home.

Jan. 16.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

In the lull between the casting announcement and the first rehearsal, director Lori Henson, right, tells Kristin Morgan how to get the rehearsal music onto her phone Dec. 29 at Dennis Weigt’s Twin Falls home. attraction at the Red Rat brothel and Hyde’s love interest — with Blackburn. Stagge wanted to know: Should they say the lines with an accent?

“If everyone can’t do them, great. If you got it, pull it out,” Henson said. “If not, don’t worry about it.”

During a sensual scene, Henson encouraged Stagge to straddle the seated Blackburn, face to face.

“We’re going to push it as far as Dilettantes will allow us to go,” Henson said.

“There’s ones in my pocket,” Blackburn said.

The cast list hit the Dilettantes’ Facebook page the next day.

Stagge would play Lucy. Hardcastle would be John Utterson, Jekyll’s best friend. Strauch and Morgan were in the ensemble.

More than a month passed before the first rehearsal finally arrived Jan. 16, but Henson didn’t expect cast members to have lines memorized and songs learned.

She prefers to work with a clean slate.

“It’s harder to relearn than it is to learn,” Henson said.

But actors should have their scripts with them, taking blocking notes. The first week they would learn the music; the next week they would learn blocking — where Henson wanted them on stage. By the third week it would all be review.

Rehearsal for choreography would begin Jan. 24. On Feb. 15, she expected the cast to be off script.

But all those deadlines were based on a perfect world.

“Mmm, maybe the 20th,” Henson said, reconsidering a deadline.

That month between auditions and rehearsals wasn’t wasted time.

“I like it sometimes this way,” Henson said. “These people just get excited to be in the show. It gives them time to make their decision.”

By Jan. 13, the show had lost Strauch and eight other members of the ensemble — extras in the backgrounds of scenes and the roles with few individual lines.

“Ensemble is sometimes the most fun part,” Henson said. “You get to meet a lot of people. I love the people cast in ensemble who say they can’t wait to get started.”

Dilettantes are encouraged to use Facebook, and on Jan. 9 Henson posted: “The countdown to the first rehearsal has begun. 1 week from tonight!!! Who is excited to start this journey with me???”

Ensemble member Duel Newberry wrote: “I’m so beyond stoked.”

Blackburn: “Rehearsal for what?

Just kidding, let’s get this show going!”

The troupe does much of its communication through a closed Facebook group — locating phone chargers or scripts left at rehearsals, or reading messages from the director.

Henson’s Jan. 7 post was for the men: “Please start growing your facial hair, and don’t cut the hair on your head. This way we can have more options to trim/shave appropriately when we get to showtime.”

On Jan. 16, in the First Baptist Church basement, Henson took her place in front of a small stage, facing the cast.

“Anyone doing their first show and doesn’t know what blocking

is?” Henson said. A tall blonde in the back raised her hand. “Blocking is where I get to tell you what to do.”

Henson told the group there was a big set to build and Wolfe was looking for a place to do it. Then she talked about how fun it was to perform — even more fun in front of a crowd. She said rehearsals would be Mondays through Thursdays.

Then Henson confessed she was stalling. Blackburn’s baby sitter hadn’t shown up, and he was running late. It was pointless to start without the lead.

“Any other questions?” Henson said.

But Blackburn walked through the door, and the room erupted with cheers and hollering.

“There’s no excuse,” Blackburn said. “But I did bring $890 in ticket sales. Does that help?”

Earlier that day, racks of dresses, coats and shirts surrounded Henson inside the Dilettantes’ Twin Falls storage unit.

Gray tubs stacked high read “Fake flowers!” “Ladies hats” or “Spats and boot covers” in black marker.

Headstones, stacks of hatboxes and a brown chair topped with tiny gray skulls were remnants of past shows.

“I’m just going to start pulling,” Henson said, adding a black lace dress to the clothes in actress Sarah Manning’s arms.

Henson examined a brown dress before adding it to the pile. “If we have somebody tiny — poor and tiny.”

For years the Dilettantes stored their costumes for free at KMVT. When that space was needed for something else, they rented a storage unit.

“We’ve gotten rid of so much, and still we have stuff,” Henson said. “People are great about wanting to donate stuff, but it’s unfortunately stuff from the 1980s we can’t use.”

Henson pulled a silky purple wrap dress from the rack and grimaced, looked it over for a few moments and put it back.

Someone discovered a pink dress with ruffled sleeves, a costume from “The Secret Garden.” It could be incorporated into “Jekyll and Hyde” somehow. It joined the pile.

Back on Jan. 7, the Dilettantes had hit costume gold.

A friend of Morgan’s allowed a handful of Dilettantes to dig through a collection in the basement of her large white home in Twin Falls.

They squealed like kids when they descended the stairs and found racks and carefully organized plastic tubs of skirts, dresses, jackets and shirts. Hats were strung on a wire with clothespins. Below that, more tubs held many-colored hats of felt and straw.

“We have an overlay,” Morgan said, holding up a swath of lace.

“And it’s black.”

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Gerlach said, making notes in a red book.

They took cellphone photos of each item they liked. Manning held up a black-and-white jacket with a black skirt, smiling as her husband took her photo. The glare from a light in the corner reflected off her glasses and cast tall shadows behind her.

“I feel we should take all the corsets,” Gerlach said.

PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS‌

Mike Etcheverry, left, Duel Newberry and Ivan Hardcastle go over ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ ensemble songs Feb. 18 in Hardcastle’s Twin Falls home.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

The cast mingles with the closing-night audience after the March 5 show at the College of Southern Idaho’s Fine Arts Auditorium.

The ceiling groaned as the homeowners walked through the living room upstairs.

“You guys, I think this should be Emma’s wedding dress,” Manning said, holding up a frilly white dress from a rack. “This could be a Barbie dress for real.”

They sorted through aprons, then men’s white shirts. Manning pulled a single white glove from the collection.

“Do we have anyone playing Michael Jackson,” said her husband, Uriah, “so you can use that one glove?”

“How about something with fur?” Morgan said, picking up an ape mask.

Outside, the snowfall intensified. Big clumps clung to roofs and windshields.

“This woman,” Gerlach said.

“I just love her. This is my happy place.”

Gerlach spun at the head of two facing lines of dancers Jan. 24 as the phone in her hand played the “Jekyll and Hyde” engagement waltz.

“Bow, curtsy, switch places. In, twirl, out, twirl.”

“Make sure you are giving energy with your arms and not noodle arms,” Gerlach said.

Holding the phone high, she circled the dancers in the First Baptist Church basement.

“Go back,” she said. “Let’s do it again and then we’re moving on.”

As choreographer, Gerlach is responsible for making the director’s vision come to life — coming up with dance moves and teaching the actors to execute them at the right moment.

“It’s always chaotic,” Gerlach said. “We are always able to bring things together in the end. That’s theater magic.”

After the waltz rehearsal, Michael Collins, Wolfe and other men stepped on stage to try on black jackets. The dance scenes were

new to Wolfe, who was taking the lead on set building and had been a stage manager.

“I don’t really like to dance that much,” he said with a laugh. “I’m better at doing other stuff — backstage.”

After the waltzing, Gerlach joined Red Rat dancers stretching out for their “Bring on the Men” number. The semicircle copied Gerlach, working their hips and shrugging their shoulders.

Blackburn wasn’t ready to leave the characters Jekyll and Hyde the last time he played them, in 2009 for Magic Valley Little Theatre.

So last year, he couldn’t say no when his 2009 director — Henson — insisted he play the part again.

Blackburn wasn’t available in October, when Magic Valley Little Theatre wanted to stage “Jekyll and Hyde.” But he was this winter.

The lines and songs came back quickly, but Blackburn had to learn a new set and how to play opposite different actors.

The Feb. 1 rehearsal centered on costumes for the “rich” people in the play and on Act II Scene II, when Emma, played by Manning, finds Jekyll’s journal and confronts his strange behavior.

“How long? How long have you been there?” Jekyll says to Emma.

Henson, directing their interactions, told Blackburn: “I want you to hold her at bay and fall into the chair.”

Music started up from a large speaker on the table.

“And you’re going to slowly move,” Henson told Manning, shaking her hand to demonstrate the forward motion. “Start to move behind him — that shoulder right there. Put your hand on his shoulder.”

Manning sang the opening lines of “Once Upon a Dream,” her voice Please see DILETTANTES, Page E4

BIG STORY

E4 | Sunday, March 19, 2017

Times-News

Dilettantes From E3

soft and sad.

“Then you are starting to come around a little more,” Henson said to Blackburn. He began to perk up.

“And you were heaven-sent to me,” Manning sang.

“That just melts you,” Henson instructed Blackburn. “I want you to set the journal down.”

Before the scene resumed, Adam Davis, who plays Bishop of Basingstoke, emerged from the makeshift costume room in the church kitchen to model his black shirt.

Henson wasn’t satisfied.

“It doesn’t look priestly enough,” she said. “I know exactly what I want.”

“OK,” Davis said, resigned.

“And I will tell them,” Henson said.

“Seven p.m.,” Henson shouted, already seated Feb. 9 at her table in front of the rehearsal room, dressed in all black. “Listen up!”

But the chatter grew louder, until someone whistled high and sharp.

Henson read off the names of cast members, who answered with “yes” or “here.” Occasionally, someone spoke up for an absent friend: “On her way.”

Once again, side conversations escalated.

“Shh!” Henson said. “Tonight it’s ‘Murder, Murder,’ and I’m really excited to see how it will go.”

Stagge, sipping soup from a small thermos with a spoon, sorted checks and cash for tickets sold by cast members, typing the figures into a calculator. Blackburn quickly finished his meal of honey Asian chicken from a to-go container.

Earlier that day, Newberry had posted a message to the “Jekyll and Hyde” Facebook group. He didn’t have a baby sitter for the evening and wanted to know if he could bring his 2-year-old son, Dean, to rehearsal. This was his first musical, so Newberry didn’t want to miss one rehearsal.

Gerlach responded online: “I’m sure we can work it out. I can bring a small tv and movie to set up for him.” Cast member Seena Plumb offered to bring crayons and paper.

Just before rehearsal started, Gerlach led Dean — sucking a blue pacifier and dragging a fleece blanket — to a television in the corner of the stage. The TV turned on with a burst of loud static.

“Get in your spots and be quiet!” Henson shouted.

Cast members walked to their marks in front of Henson, holding newspapers, and sang when the music started. But they didn’t sing for long.

“Sh—, people,” Henson said.

“You don’t even sing that. Does anybody have their scripts?”

When the cartoon in the corner started, loud music and voices competed with directions on the floor.

“That needs to be turned down,” Henson said, glancing over for a second before redirecting her attention to the cast.

The cartoon was quickly reduced to a murmur.

“Are you in your spots?” she asked again. “You are heavy over here and need to fill the whole space. I will take pictures and you will hit these marks every single time, right? Awesome.”

“Murder in the night air,” the cast sang. “Murder. Murder. It’s a nightmare.”

Henson decided on another tactic: Just say the words and concentrate on the moves.

“Get to your starting spots. You won’t sing it; we’ll just do it.”

But the moves still weren’t what she wanted. She stood, propping her glasses on her head as she stepped forward.

Gerlach raised her hand to suggest something, but her voice was overpowered by a string of side conversations that lit up like a bomb fuse. Gerlach fanned her face with her hand.

“Guys!” Henson said. “Shh!” Not everyone was in the hot seat that night. A few people hung out off to the sides. Manning sat on the stage drinking a Red Bull.

“Is Sarah not in this scene?”

Henson asked.

“No, you told me you didn’t want me to be,” Manning said, looking up and then back down at her phone.

The conversations reignited.

“Shh!” someone hissed.

Growing bored with the movie, Dean clung to his dad’s legs. Collins tried to coax the boy off to the side. Eventually, Dean took off toward the stage again, stepping over bags and coats. Stagge joined him at the TV, providing company while his dad rehearsed.

When Dean tired of the TV again, Henson’s husband held the boy in front of the room to give him a good view of his father.

“Words, words,” Henson said, snapping her fingers at Nebeker.

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Surrounded by dancers, Johanna Stagge, center, plays prostitute Lucy Harris during the Feb. 28 rehearsal for ‘Jekyll and Hyde.’

“You don’t have to go so fast,” she barked at the cast.

“Go back, you forgot to turn.

Go back,” Henson said, waving her hands in the air. “Turn! Turn!

Turn!”

Blackburn paced the back of the room, studying the script in his leather binder and happily whistling the tune.

Again, Henson yelled to stop the singing. And everything else.

“No, this part isn’t just rich. Are you rich?” she asked, pointing to several actors.

“Yes it is!” Shirley Lee shouted from the sidelines.

“Am I in this?” asked Ben Trotter, the newsboy, standing on a crate.

Then Dean discovered the onstage piano.

The glow of a single orange light outlined the black silhouettes of two cast members at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 outside the church. On Wednesdays, when the Dilettante board met, practice started at 7:30 instead of the usual 7 p.m.

More cars parked, and people emerged carrying benches and pushing metal clothes racks across the street. Soon the group of two grew to a dozen.

Others carried armfuls of costumes and plastic garment bags.

At the bottom of the concrete stairs, a water bottle cracked the door open. Inside, Dilettantes donned black jackets with long tails, a bright green shawl and a taupe dress with lace.

“Two minutes,” Henson yelled from her director’s table.

At another table, Stagge collected ticket money from cast members.

“I gave you tickets for Cable One,” she said. “You have them.”

“One minute,” Henson yelled.

“One,” someone echoed from the noisy group of Dilettantes taking off their coats. Another repeated the message just as “Jekyll and Hyde” music started playing.

The cast breezed through the big “Murder, Murder” number without hesitation.

“Blackout,” Henson said as it ended.

Nebeker clapped, and someone yelled, “Whoo!”

The actors dispersed to various corners, studying scripts, and Manning and Blackburn practiced “Once Upon a Dream.”

“If you need me,” Manning sang, pausing briefly when she missed a note.

“Geez,” she said, then continued. “If you need me, you’ll know where I’ll be.”

For their duet, Stagge and Manning sat in opposite corners of the room. As Stagge sang, Henson shook her head from the director’s table. Two people quickly removed two chairs near Stagge.

During an intimate song between Stagge and Blackburn, Gerlach crouched behind the bar to hold it in place as Blackburn picked up Stagge — who straddled him — and set her on the bar.

Blackburn lifted Stagge again, and the embracing pair rolled on the floor, still singing.

As opening night drew closer, some actors felt they needed more than four days of practice a week.

On Feb. 17, Hardcastle posted in the Facebook group that cast members could come to his home at 9:30 a.m. the next day, a Saturday. On Feb. 18, he was hunched over a piano in his living room, a Dutch Bros coffee cup next to the score. A second piano kept company with a curio cabinet of dolls with unblinking eyes. A banjo hung on the wall next to a trumpet. Mike Etcheverry, Newberry, Collins and Brooke Woods gathered behind Hardcastle, music in hand.

“Ahh! Ahhhh!” they sang.

A woman’s voice, pleasant but robotic, broke the ominous melody.

“Rehearsal track,” it said.

The Dilettantes have used recorded music from a company called The MT Pit since 2010. The last show to use an orchestra was “My Fair Lady” in 2009. Music for shows averages $1,500 to $2,400.

Before it all went digital, the CDs were encrypted to prevent copying.

Now the Dilettantes receive an access code that makes the music available to everyone on their smartphones. It’s like having an orchestra in their pockets.

“Ahhh,” Woods sang. “Ahhh, ahhh.”

Hardcastle’s wife yelled from the kitchen that Woods sounded like Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”

“Hey, it’s our Disney princess,” Hardcastle shouted, chuckling.

The princess, though, was concentrating.

“I think I got it,” Woods said.

“Yes!” Upstairs, approaching footsteps signaled visitors. A boy with a plastic sword and gun scurried in front of the singers, followed by a girl with a green plush dinosaur.

Hardcastle tapped his toes in rhythm and waved his hand, a desk lamp washing his face in warm light.

The girl with the dinosaur made a return trip through the living room, this time stopping in front of Etcheverry.

“Uh, daddy,” she said.

“Give daddy a minute,” Etcheverry said.

Woods tapped her foot to keep the beat of the menacing song. The girl took notice and bent her knees in her own rhythm.

“I need you to go play,” Etcheverry said. “Dad needs to work.”

“Dad needs to be a star,” Newberry teased.

“Face, eyes, disappear,” the five recited in unison, as the recorded voice returned.

“Rehearsal track.”

Collins, in cap and gloves, placed screws in the front pocket of his College of Southern Idaho sweatshirt Feb. 26, and they clinked as they rolled into each other.

“Somebody want to come screw this in place, please?” he said, holding a board steady.

Showtime was five days away.

The lines were memorized, the dance moves fine-tuned and the songs on key. But here in the CSI Fine Arts Auditorium, most of the set would be assembled in a day. For past Dilettante shows, set building got four weeks or more.

Why just a weekend this time?

The Dilettantes couldn’t find a spot big enough to build the set, so they made a few items in Wolfe’s garage and recycled sets from other shows.

On Jan. 24, Wolfe had said they were already framing and had the lumber purchased by that time last year. He wasn’t too worried, though.

“Since we’re running out of time,” he said, “we won’t necessarily scale it back but simplify it.”

By a month later, they had settled on one main piece that could be rolled on and off the stage. It would have an industrial look with staircases on both sides.

“Yeah, good job, guys,” Stagge said Feb. 26 as cast members placed the top railing, hitting it into place with hammers.

Newberry leaned over the middle section of the railing to secure it.

“Isn’t it supposed to go in straight?” someone quipped.

“Everybody’s a critic,” Newberry mumbled, his mouth full of screws.

Finally successful, he threw up his hands in celebration. “I did it.”

Cast and crew clapped on the stage below.

Another moment of celebration: Jekyll’s lab — decorated with test tubes, vials and bottles of coriander seed and mustard seed — rolled perfectly under the main set.

Suzy Stokes was in charge of the

DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS‌

Duel Newberry shows off his carpentry skills while assembling the set Feb. 26 at the College of Southern Idaho. lab props and making Jekyll’s experiments look real. Bleach added to red Kool-Aid turns clear, and an alkaline indicator added to water turns it blue. Another prop on the lab was Blackburn’s journal, written by Jekyll and Hyde in different handwriting to help Blackburn get into the characters.

The Fine Arts Auditorium, mostly dark, was filled with the sounds of screws being forced into wood and the rattling of metal bits against metal screws.

“Lori, when you have a second I have a question for you,” Stagge said from atop one of the stairs.

In the “Someone Like You” scene, what should she do when she reached the bottom of the stairs?

Henson told her to sit on the steps.

“Or you can even lean on this,” she said, pointing to the railing.

Stagge sat and leaned, but the top of the railing was higher than her head.

“Oh, that’s weird on the shoulder,” she said.

“Is that too high?” Henson replied. “And watch out, that’s sharp.”

She touched the end of the metal railing. “Tape person, we need a tape person.”

Stagge had another question, and the two disappeared down a ramp and into the shadows.

Actresses in long dresses and bustles milled about the first few rows of auditorium seats Feb. 27. Lee, playing Lady Beaconsfield, wore a black dress and top hat and fanned herself with a black fan.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” she said, taking a seat in the second row.

Their first dress rehearsal in the CSI auditorium was supposed to start 30 minutes earlier, but changes to prop positions meant they wouldn’t start until 7:30 p.m.

Onstage, Henson told everyone not to mark anything or move anything until she signed off.

“Are we good on the curtain line here?” Henson said, moving back one of three chairs from a table.

The entire group disappeared behind a heavy red curtain, and the auditorium went dark. Soon, the curtains opened and Henson emerged, saying: “Mark it, mark it. Let’s mark it.”

CSI employees Shane Brown and Jud Harmon emerged from behind the stage, headsets on, and headed for the back of the auditorium to man booths in the balcony.

Henson and others had a few reminders for the cast as overhead lights illuminated the auditorium once again.

“Please be careful when they knock you off the chairs,” Henson said. “Do not break the chairs.

They are not high-quality chairs.”

Do not play on the 100-yearold wheelchair prop. In fact, all cast members were reminded, don’t mess with any props that aren’t yours.

Go behind the black curtain and not between the white and the black ones — or the audience can see you rippling the curtain as you walk.

“Do you feel good?”Henson

said. “Let’s do the show.”

She retreated with her milkshake to her table behind the lower seats.

Hardcastle appeared on the left balcony, in a single spotlight, to introduce the show. The curtain opened to Jekyll visiting his father in an asylum — blank-faced Troy Henson in a straightjacket and the antique wheelchair.

Before the March 2 opening, Gerlach prayed with a small group in a corner beneath the exit sign backstage.

“Five minutes,” someone called out.

A table in the hallway held two bouquets of flowers, one for Gerlach and the other for Henson’s daughter, a dancer. In the 1970s, Dilettantes received telegrams; a slip of yellow and brown Western Union paper in a scrapbook at the Twin Falls Public Library wishes the Dilettantes success on opening night. The message from Marth and Irvin Squires: “To the Dilettantes, one and all. May you guys and dolls break a leg. Happy opening. Wish we could be there.”

In 2017, Loza’s live video and others shared the final moments before the show with fans on social media.

Inside the auditorium, violin music played on loudspeakers over the audience’s murmured conversations. The director walked to her table behind the lower seats and pulled on her headset. The house lights flashed their warning and went dark.

After the curtain closed for the last time March 5, actors hugged backstage. Karee Parenti and Matt Neville cried as he unhooked her microphone.

“There will be other shows that are just as fun and just as exciting,” Parenti assured Neville, who leaned his forehead against the wall.

After leaving their microphones on a table, matched with the numbers written on green tape, actors appeared in the lobby. Some huddled in small groups with friends and family. Ensemble member Pauline Chapman, on a man’s arm, carried two bouquets through the lobby. The Red Rat Girls, in black and red lingerie, posed for photographs together in a hallway that smelled of hairspray and perfume.

Stagge was surrounded, still wearing the teal robe in which Lucy is murdered by Hyde.

“You rocked it,” said a woman in glasses. “You gave me goosebumps. I tell you, it was amazing.”

“You are so talented,” said another person.

“You are incredible,” said another.

Nearby, Blackburn was hugging and shaking hands. He looked everyone in the eye and smiled when he talked.

“Did I scare you?” he asked a young girl. “I’m sorry.”

As the crowds in the lobby dispersed, and the excited conversations quieted to a few, the Dilettantes began tearing down the set. They tied back curtains, hung dresses and emptied orange liquid from test tubes.

Make that 59 years of musical theater history.

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