Grace Richardson is our Information and Outreach Coordinator at the George Daily Auditorium. She’s spent the past week putting together a feature article about the Hobbit. Enjoy!
Big things are happening in small town Oskaloosa with the George Daily Community Auditorium’s production of The Hobbit this August 1-4th. The production is being put on to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the George Daily Youth Theatre. In this show, you’ll join Hobbit and thief, Bilbo Baggins, as he works to help a band of Dwarves reclaim their home from the chiefest of calamities, Smaug the Dragon. This cast of over 70 performers has been rehearsing since May, but the production team has been hard at work since December.
The production team are highly skilled within their niches of costume design, set design, makeup and prosthetics, puppeteering, lighting design, action directing, and music composition. They wanted to create something new and exciting – something that had never been seen before. Some production team members even started off doing youth theatre camps many years ago – which is another summer-long event taking place in the George Daily.
Most people in a community of this size don’t get the opportunity to participate in a show this complex. “The scale of this show is such that typically in a community like this, it would come in on a truck”, says action choreographer, Jason Tipsword. Jason has been spending summers at the George Daily for a number of years now, and is also certified by the Society of American Fight Directors. He emphasized the round table of folks who participated from the conceptualization/visualization of the show to now.
Hailey Smith, the stage manager for The Hobbit and a student at the University of Northern Iowa, describes the experience as, “long but very rewarding to see all of the work the production team and actors have put in.” She also pointed out how, “theatre is important because it allows people to learn and grow without consequences in the real professional world. It’s like a giant world of make believe.”
The George Daily Auditorium is also a place where actors and crew members know they can truly express themselves, even if they mess up during rehearsal. “I know the space well enough to know that I won’t be judged for any choices or mistakes that I might make”, says Hailey.
Show dates for The Hobbit are coming up soon, with performances at 7PM on August 1-3 and 2PM on August 4th. Tickets can be purchased by calling 641-672-0799 or by going to georgedaily.org. Adult tickets are $20 and students get in free.