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CONTACT: Suzanne C. Miller
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Office: (717) 691-6027 ext. 1
E-mail: scmiller@messiah.edu

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" to be performed at Messiah College

	The cast of "Amahl and the Night Visitors," which will be performed at Messiah College from Dec. 10 to 12. Click on image to download print-quality version
	William Kline as "Amahl" and Lisa Grimm as his mother. "Amahl and the Night Visitors" will be performed at Messiah College from Dec. 10 to 12. Click on image to download print-quality version

GRANTHAM, Pa. (Nov. 19, 2004) — Messiah College’s School of the Arts, the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Opera will present “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” an opera by Carlo Menotti about a shepherd boy who is visited by three kings who are following a star and seeking a newborn king. Performances will be held on Friday, Nov. 26, and Saturday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 28, at 2:30 p.m. at the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg, 915 South York St., Mechanicsburg. Additional performances will be held on Friday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 11, and Sunday, Dec. 12, at 2:30 p.m. in Miller Auditorium, located in Climenhaga Fine Arts Center on Messiah College’s Grantham campus. A dessert reception with the performers will follow the matinee on Saturday, Dec. 11.

Tickets cost $15 for adults and $7 for children 12 years old and under. Reduced rates are available for groups of 25 or more. To purchase tickets, call the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg at (717) 766-0535, Monday through Friday between 6 and 8 p.m., or leave a message on the answering machine at all other times.

“This is a true collaborative effort involving the talents of three major arts organizations in Central Pennsylvania,” said Addie Appelbaum, executive director of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Opera.

This collaboration was the idea of Erica Carl, the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg’s administrative director, who brought together the Messiah College Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Timothy Dixon, assistant professor of music at Messiah College, and the Central Pennsylvania Youth Opera, the only children’s opera company in the state.

“One of the most exciting elements of this collaboration is the fact that we will have a live orchestra at the Messiah College performances,” said director Ken Bateman. The orchestra will consist of Messiah College students.

Carl noted that all of the performances will feature young dancers from Capital Area School for the Arts, an Allied Arts Fund Venture Fund recipient.

“To try to include as many arts organizations as we could in this production almost became a mission,” said Carl. “If this project proves successful, and it will, there are no limits to what all of the arts groups in this region can do together.”

About the cast

The lead characters in “Amahl and the Night Visitors” are played by William Kline (Amahl), Lisa Grimm (Amahl’s mother), Rick Anderson (Balthazar), Ron Richcreek (Melchior), Ben Williams (Kasper) and Michael Brown (the Page).

The shepherd chorus is comprised of members of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Opera, including Madeleine Appelbaum, Mary Braasch, Nicole Deckard, Olivia Feliciano, Ryan Lorah, Nolan McCormick, Katie Malpezzi, Kate Monsted, Katie Rossiter, Sophia Thompson, Gabrielle Aikens, Michael Brown, Anna Coughlan, Emily Coughlan, Mary Darlington, Amanda Friederich, Lindsey Fitzke, Kyra Garling, Emma Gingrich, Sarah Gingrich, Samantha Harclerode, Erin Kelly, Rose Levenson, Hailey Lockner, Angeline Lonardi, Elise Manning, Leah Martin, Elizabeth Nace.

Meghan Getz and Liv Messmer play adult shepherds and Kelley Dennis and Cassi Morris round out the cast as dancers. The opera directors are Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg volunteers, Ken Bateman and Art Thompson.

About Messiah College

Messiah College , a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,900 undergraduate students in 50 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.

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ARTICLE DATE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2004
ARTICLE NUMBER: MC-154-04

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