WCHS play opens this weekend
WAYNESBURG – The Waynesburg Central High School drama club will present the play, “The Quiltmaker’s Gift,” as its fall production Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the newly renovated high school auditorium. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. Tickets are available at the door.
Admission to an accompanying quilt show in the cafeteria will be by monetary donation or by bringing a new blanket Proceeds go to Washington City Mission. The quilt show will be held for a hour before the play and 30 minutes following the show on both nights with 50 quilts on loan from several local families displayed.
Productions put on by Waynesburg Central High School drama club are selected to be more than just entertaining. Each play carries a life lesson within the stories woven by the cast of players.
In 2013, the student production of “The 100 Dresses,” tackled the timely subject of bullying. Based on the Newberry Award winning children’s book of the same name, “The 100 Dresses,” made the audience think about how their words and actions impact those around them.
So, too, “The Quiltmakers Gift,” will leave audiences with something to think about after the final bow is taken.
This musical production tells the story of an old quilt maker who will only share her creations with those who truly need them. No amount of money can dissuade her to part with one of her quilts, much to the dismay of a greedy king who desires to possess all of the gifts of the land.
In addition to her quilt, there is one other thing that is illusive to the king, and despite all of his worldly possessions escapes him – happiness. The quiltmaker is aware of this and when the king’s various methods to convince her to give him a quilt fail, she sends him on a journey of self-discovery where he learns that happiness does not come from receiving but instead from giving.
Key players in the story, senior Bailey Echegaray, who portrays the quiltmaker, and senior Caleb Jackson, who portrays the king, shared their thoughts on how the message in the play has impacted them.
“With this show (more than “The 100 Dresses”) you have to pay a little more attention to get the message, which is, ‘it isn’t all about you.’ You need to take other people’s feelings into consideration daily,” Echegaray said.
Jackson said the theme forced him to question his own decisions.
“It made me try to keep myself in check in trying to live as selflessly as possible and that I need to try to find true happiness and not happiness in possessions and things,” he said. “I’m very excited to put the show on for the little kids. I think they will find it to be funny at times too.”
Family and consumer sciences instructor, Dianne Toothman, who also oversees the PennSERVE program in the district, is behind the selection of the fall production. Toothman was tasked by director Doug Bland to look for a play on a website with many options. When she came across “The Quiltmaker’s Gift,” she was instantly drawn to it with a background in sewing and a mother who made quilts.
The message within the story solidified it as her choice, she said, noting those involved in the productions like to pick something with “a good moral story with good lessons every year for the elementary students who see it. The best you can do with a show is to teach the kids how to make a better society,” Toothman said. In this case, the message is “it is better to give than to receive,” she added.
It was also Toothman’s suggestion that a service project be teamed with the play and what better idea than a quilt show, Bland said.
Allowing the audience to be even more participatory, as they exit the show, audience members will have an opportunity to help tie knots in baby quilts for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Monongahela General Hospital. The baby quilts were made by students in Toothman’s PennSERVE classes.
“All you have to do is tie knots and think positive thoughts, sending the goodwill of our community to the children in the NICU,” Toothman said.