A ‘sweet’ event

The Waseca Drama Department hosted a sweet event for the first time ever. The inaugural “Dessert Theater,” which took place from 6 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26,  at the Waseca High School commons hosted a humble 25 guests.

There were plenty of sweets for everyone, ranging from chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting to cookies of all kinds. Perhaps for some, a slice of cheesecake was well paired with some coffee. Nearly any style of sweet was more than likely represented.

As people sauntered into the commons area, they were greeted by soothing sounds from a Bluejay jazz combo that consisted of Noah Dahle, Josie Perrizo, Ryan Leigh, Cyrus Guse, Grace Lapides, Norah Schimming, Tarun Ewerst, and Corrick Medina.

After Emcees Lapides, Fitch, and jazz director Paul Davis welcomed everyone, the combo performed “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” a jazz standard composed by Cannonball Adderley.

Following that were two speeches by members of the Waseca Speech Team. One was “59,” a romance tale where 59 finds the love of his life in number 61, presented by Andrick Balderas. The other was a humorous speech about tall people aptly named “Napoleon” presented by Mandi Root.

Following the speeches was a short snippet of the one-act play “How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying.” Grace Lapides took the place of Lindsey Kopetzki. After that, Lapides performed the song “The Joke,” composed by Brandi Carlile. The song’s lyrics encourage people to have self-confidence.

Following a duo speech performance by Ashton Jenzen and Corrick Medina called “The Big Bad Wolf Gets Busted” was a skit by the Waseca Drama Department Board members. The “cast” for the skit was Karen Pfarr Anderson, Kris Lapides, Chuck Pollock, Anna Pollock, and Tracy Kopetzki.

To end the dessert theater, Grace Lapides and Anna Pollock sang a duet version of “Crowded Table,” a song by the Highwomen.

All proceeds will go to the Waseca Drama Department’s booster club, the first of its kind in the Waseca School District. “This will also benefit community theater,” said Emcee and Board Member Ann Fitch.

The drama department wanted to find a way to raise some more money for theater; the recent event was the means they devised. “Theater is exclusive as it could be a powerful way to tell stories to everyone,” Fitch explained.

“The truth is, theater is expensive,” followed fellow emcee Grace Lapides. “Between licensing, set design, costume design, props, and salaries, it all adds up.”

Lapides explained that it has been the norm to produce a musical every other year at Waseca High School. However, the board believes there is interest in doing one annually.

“On top of that,” Fitch added, “our beautiful, new Performing Arts Center is well-equipped to do bigger, better shows. But with those shows come larger budgets, larger casts, and ultimately more work.”

Events such as the dessert theater will help the drama department pay for the equipment, staff, and other expenses to put on better shows for the community. Fitch added that the ultimate purpose of the department’s booster club is not only to support the theater program at Waseca High School, but support theater in Waseca as a whole.

The whole event, the Waseca Drama Department’s mission, and the booster’s club’s existence, therefore, was summarized by Lapides in two sentences. “Theater is awesome. Let’s do more of it.”