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MAT's 'Grease' hits the stage Friday in Havre

One of the most anticipated shows of the Montana Actors' Theatre season hits the stage Friday.

“Grease” will have a myriad of community members, from high schoolers to Northern officials, portraying the well-known characters of the '50s love story.

"The show's going great," said Donald Mayer, co-director of the show.

Mayer said that he expects the show to be a great success and the response from the community has been quite positive.

Mayer was the one who pitched the idea of running "Grease" and said he experienced some nay-saying about the project because of the complicated scale of the show.

"The cool thing about it is that we knew it would attract a lot of MAT veterans," Mayer said. " ... I also knew that it would attract a lot of people who are new to our company."

Rachel Dean, the other director of the show, said that she had her reservations about the show at first, but they have been successful in creating it.

"It's a very complicated show with a big cast, but we found all the talent we needed and then some," Dean said.

Mayer is starring in the show as Kenickie and many recognizable faces from the Havre area will grace the stage, including Montana State University-Northern provost William Rugg in a notable role.

"Basically, the way I look at 'Grease' is that it binds generations," Mayer said. "There are older folks who watched it in the theaters. We grew up watching it. The younger kids, every time it's on ABC Family, they watch it. That's what I thought was so cool about it, is that it brings us all together."

Dean said that the movie and the show are quite different from each other.

"The show has a more ironic feel to it," Dean said. "It's poking fun at itself more than the movie did."

She said that the show plays with the idiosyncrasies of high school and is a fun time.

Mayer said that the presale tickets for the show have been through the roof and they will, unfortunately, have to turn some people away some nights. The first showing is already half-sold out with presale tickets.

Dean said that so far, they have pre-sold over 250 tickets, which is a record for MAT.

Tickets are $20 per person, $15 for students and seniors. They are available at Angie's Wildflowers, The Computer Center, Gretchan's Getaway in Chinook, at http://www.mtactors.com and at the door.

There is a gala event on March 7 that is $30 per person. There will be '50s-themed food served before the show that night.

The play will run Feb. 27 and 28, March 5 through 7 and 10 through 14. Doors open at 7:30 and the show begins 8 p.m.

 

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