Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Well, right now it’s the Curtain Call Theatre for Children. The local theatre is busy preparing for their upcoming show, The SpongeBob Musical. The show dives into life in Bikini Bottom with SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy and other well-known characters from the cartoon. Several KHS students are leading the way with this large cast.
Senior Talon Hawkins plays the villain in the show.
“My character’s name is Plankton, a cartoonish and prideful speck of maliciousness, who’s as intelligent as he is unlucky,” he said.
Hawkins has been performing in both Curtain Call and KHS drama club shows. He played Robertson Ay in Mary Poppins, Walter Hobbs in Elf and Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors. Hawkins enjoys the experience of being on stage and taking on a new character.
“My motivation is that acting and performing are what all my friends do, and it’s a form of escapism for me,” he said. “It gives me a chance to ignore the ‘me’ stuff for a while and have some fun!”
Senior Ava Caudill plays the role of the French narrator in The SpongeBob Musical. Caudill feels at home when the bright lights are on her. She’s excited for the audience to see this show.
Junior Noelle Duncan is well-known throughout KHS for her rendition of the National Anthem that landed her gigs at the 2023 IHSAA State Basketball Finals. But, this year, Duncan is taking on the role of Pearl, Mr. Krabs’ daughter.
“Pearl is sassy, loud and has a huge passion for music. She’s sort of like me,” Duncan said.
Curtain Call executive director Jeremy Leazenby-Bruce is no stranger to directing a large cast in a musical. Leazenby-Bruce has directed more than 60 shows, most recently Curtain Call’s summer production of Mary Poppins. Directing two big shows back-to-back is no easy task, but Leazenby-Bruce is excited about the upbeat nature SpongeBob brings.
“SpongeBob was put on our radar by one of our board members. Since it has some name recognition and hasn’t been done before in our community, we took a look at it,” Leazenby-Bruce said. “The music is high energy and fun and features several characters. Since we have a larger talent pool right now, we thought it would be a great choice to highlight that talent.”
But having more talent can also make casting the show trickier.
“Casting is the hardest part of directing a show,” he said. “For example, there were many roles in SpongeBob that had two or three people who were exceptional for some of the lead roles. Sometimes a rockstar performer may get a smaller part because they are amazing and can fill the need of any part whereas another performer could only fit in one place.”
While several cast members come from KHS, there are even more from around the area.
“I think one of the greatest gifts I have as the Executive Director of Curtain Call is the opportunity to work with amazing performers from all over Howard County and surrounding areas that love theater and are dedicated to performing and doing well. I have met some amazing people that have become part of my continuously growing theater family,” Leazenby-Bruce said.
Curtain Call Theatre for Children’s production of The SpongeBob Musical is set for Friday, Oct. 13 at 7pm and Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2pm at IUK’s Havens Auditorium. Tickets are on sale now at kcctc.org for $15. Tickets can also be purchased at the Havens Box Office before each performance for $20.
