Long after the curtain has closed on most high school theater productions, 35 students and recent graduates at Glenelg Country School are in their eighth month of rehearsing lines, learning songs and working out choreography for the musical Aesop's Foibles.
They say the extended effort will be worthwhile when they perform the show - written by two Glenelg Country School teachers - Aug. 16 through 19 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
"From the get-go, we were all extremely excited," said Collin Lyons, 18, of Glenelg, who plays Aesop. "[Young people] never get the opportunity to experience being in a first-time, world premiere show."
To get ready for the festival, the group will offer three evening performances of the show and two matinees at Glenelg Country School today through Sunday.
Carole Lehan, Glenelg Country's performing arts chairwoman, wrote the book for Aesop's Foibles while the school's primary school music teacher, Tom French, wrote the music and lyrics. The show follows Aesop as he seeks his freedom from slavery by writing his now-famous stories with the help of a novice muse. When a greedy fox steals the stories and rewrites them, humorous chaos - with singing animal characters - ensues.
"It is broad comedy," French said, "but it has also got a really nice message, so the audience walks away from it feeling fulfilled."
Lehan and French wrote shows together in the early 1990s for Toby's Dinner Theatre and other venues. French went on tour with a show in 1995, and when he returned to the area five years later, Lehan encouraged him to take a position at Glenelg Country School so they could resume their creative partnership.
Eight years later, they did.
French had started writing songs for a show using Aesop's fables 15 years ago, and he said the school's 2007 production of Just So, based on Rudyard Kipling's animal tales, got him and Lehan talking about the project again.
They decided to make Aesop the school's spring musical. A month later, they found that their school had been selected to perform at the American High School Theatre Festival. That is one part of the 24-day, 2,088-show Fringe Festival.
Lehan said they decided the original show would be perfect for Scotland. "The idea was, as long as we have a world stage, we'll make it worth remembering," she said.
Casting began while the writing process was going on, so Lehan said she and French had the opportunity to tailor roles to the actors.
