The Statesmen Theatre performed Loserville for the first time last Thursday, and will continue further showings this Thursday through Saturday. The musical itself was originally performed in the United Kingdom and has only been performed in the United States a few times, which makes Statesmen Theatre one of the first American groups to perform it.
“I was looking for something that would be challenging and yet still fun,” theater teacher Jason Tamborini said.
Due to this, the cast has the freedom to add something new to the experience.
“It’s a lot of fun because we don’t have a lot to compare our experience to, so now we’re creating our moves and our own personalities for the characters and we are able to put our own little twist to it,” sophomore Rachel Dickman said.
The soundtrack consists of a modern pop rock score to keep with the modern themes of the musical.
“The songs are extremely catchy and it’s such a different experience than any of the other musical theater I’ve done in the past,” junior Luke Hemmingson said.
The group has made an effort to strengthen their advertising campaign to help spread the word and increase attendance for each performance.
“Everybody who hears that this is the play we’re doing says, ‘Hey that’s cool, what is that?’ and so typically if you don’t know a play you’re less likely to go see it, no matter if it’s a group you like or don’t like,” Tamborini said. “In an effort to spread the word that we’re doing this musical and you should come see it, we decided that really we’re going to do a campaign of marketing and advertising.”
The campaign consists of promotional letters sent home to families within the community as well as a technique known as “reverse pick-pocketing” in which members discreetly place flyers in unsuspecting individuals’ pockets. Senior Bella Orobaton also created a public Snapchat geofilter.
“It’s one of the posters as well, I think it’s the most eye catching and visually you can tell it’s pixelated [with] nerds versus jocks being evident [within] that,” Orobaton said. “[That is one] of the big themes in the show, so we wanted to encapsulate that in the geofilter.”