FTCC’s Fine Arts Department is bringing a cast of familiar characters to stage for its Spring musical production, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”
“It’s got great name recognition,” says Katherine Herring, FTCC Theatre Instructor and the show’s director. “Everyone knows Charlie Brown and Snoopy and Lucy, and it has that bit of nostalgia.”
The show, which opens April 1 for a six-performance run at Cumberland Hall Auditorium on FTCC’s Fayetteville campus, is the department’s first full production since Covid-19 forced a lengthy halt to live performances around the globe.
In addition to the show’s wide appeal, Herring said the production involves a relatively small cast and offers staging flexibility — all boons while preparing as Covid precautions evolved.
“It’s a small cast, and we weren’t sure where we would be as far as (using) masks and social distancing,” Herring says. “We did something that had a bit of flexibility in staging to adapt it to do what we needed to do to keep everybody safe.”
The cast features students in FTCC’s Theater and Music programs, as well as students studying outside of the Fine Arts Department. Herring said participating in the production offers an educational and enriching experience, regardless of a student’s’ focus of study.
The cast of FTCC’s Spring 2022 production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” rehearse in Cumberland Hall Auditorium. [Contributed photo]
“It gives Theatre and Music students the opportunity to be onstage, and that’s the best possible education we can give them — the chance to put to use all the things they are learning in class,” Herring says. “But even for an Associate in Science student, who might not get a chance to do something inherently creative or performative in class, this is an opportunity to flex that creative muscle and become an even better, more well-rounded student.”
All of the performances in the show’s two-weekend run are open to the public, and admission is free. Herring says the show is kid-appropriate without being categorized as a kids’ show.
“It’s a fun show. It’s bright, and it’s got great music,” Herring says. “It’s a show that anyone would enjoy seeing.”
- YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Tams-Witmark LLC. www.concordtheatricals.com
- Based on The Comic Strip “Peanuts”
- by
- Charles M. Schulz
- Book, Music and Lyrics
- by
- Clark Gesner
- Additional Dialogue by Michael Mayer
- Additional Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa
