With the opening of The Irish … And How They Got That Way, the curtain will also rise for two projects by University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown students. Eighty Years at the Mountain Playhouse: Summer Stock Lives! – a 100-page book illustrated with 160 images – and “The Show Goes On!: 80 Seasons and Counting at Jennerstown’s Mountain Playhouse” – a 15-minute historical documentary film with more than 100 still and moving images and several interviews – were produced by student researchers and producers. Students will attend the Opening Night Party on Wednesday, June 19, with the director, designers, cast and technical staff. Books will be available and the documentary will be shown. The party begins at approximately 9:15 p.m. in the Tuscany Room of Green Gables, which is adjacent to the Mountain Playhouse.
Eleven University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown students in majors from writing to history to theatre arts, along with history professor Paul Douglas Newman, PhD, have spent a year working on the projects. Both works chronicle the history of the Mountain Playhouse and the phenomenon of Summer Stock theatre. The book project began in May 2018. Student researchers Yami Audisio, Laken Burkhardt, Josh Calandrella, and Erin Whyte spent hours digitizing playbills, scrapbook images, and photo albums at the Mountain Playhouse, while Cameron Carr performed archival research at the Somerset Historical Center. The book is published by the Somerset Daily American. In fall 2018, Jonathan Van Dermark joined the project and researched the theater founder’s private archives. Kelsey Chabal was added at that time as editor and writer.
The film project arose from Dr. Newman’s fall 2018 class “Historical Documentary Film and Filmmaking.” Students Norm Ballard, Ryan Olsavsky, Cole Seaman, Jonathan Van Dermark (also part of book project), and Hastings Wagamon used the materials digitized by the book team to research, write, storyboard, and edit their documentary.
The book will be available for purchase at the box office and online at www.mountainplayhouse.org. Proceeds benefit the Mountain Playhouse. The film will play on a loop in the theater lobby for patrons to watch before shows and at intermission throughout the season.
