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The curtain is set to open one last time on the illustrious career of  Mary Margaret Coffield. The RBHS performing art’s production of The Curious Savage will be the last open audition, all-school, performance for long-time director Coffield, who is set to retire at the end of the school year.

Show times for the Curious Savage are 7 p.m. this Friday, 7 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday in the performing arts center. Cost for admission is $6 per ticket and RBHS activity passes will also be accepted. Tickets are on sale now in the RBHS Performing Arts Office in the music wing. The play deals with Ethel Savage and a large sum of money she recently inherited.

“It’s about a woman (Ethel Savage) who has come into a large sum of money because of her rich husband’s death. Jealous of her inheritance and fearing her tendency to give money to those in need, her three step-children send her to a mental institution,” Senior Elizabeth Burch-Hudson, who plays the role of Lily Belle Savage, said. “There she befriends both the patients and doctors of the institution, finding that sanity is all a matter of perspective.”

Although the play is a comedy the take home message to the audience is much deeper.

“This play is full of insights about living life well,” Coffield said. “the basic story idea is when you have an opportunity to live your life generously, and even if it is outside the mode of what people expect you to do, that maybe that’s the way to live your life.”

Burch-Hudson and Coffield both said the days off in February and the additional snow days were challenging.

“It makes it hard to keep the momentum going,” Coffield said. “It’s easier I think in some ways at other times of year, but these kids did a great job maintaining it, growing, developing their characters and they’ve really came a long way.”

To make up for any lost time cast members have done additional work to be prepared for opening night, staying at school till 9:30 each day this week. “[We’ve had] longer rehearsals and working a lot on our own outside of school on lines and character development,” Burch-Hudson said. “We’re only human so of course nothing’s perfect, but it’s really coming together despite any time we might’ve lost.”

With this being Coffield’s last main stage production the cast members are willing to go the extra mile to make sure her last play is special.
“There’s definitely a taciturn agreement among the actors that we want to give her the best show we can,” Burch-Hudson said. “It’s a lot of pressure and the bar has been set high by Rock Bridge’s exceptional theater department, but each cast brings something special and I’m sure she’ll be pleased with our performance. It’s a very bittersweet ordeal but we owe it to her for everything she has done for this school to give her an exceptional three performances. She will be sorely missed, we’re all just so lucky to have gotten to work with her.”
By Graham Ratermann
Are you looking forward to seeing The Curious Savage?