By LAURA BROOKHART / Community Columnist

Helena High School Fine Arts & Theater teacher, Jefferson Casey, announces upcoming performances for the 2017-2018 school year.

“On October 26, 28, and 29, we will be performing the play, The Curious Savage.”

It is a comedic play written by John Patrick about Ethel P. Savage, an elderly woman whose husband recently died and left her approximately ten million dollars.

Contrasting the kindness and loyalty of psychiatric patients with the avarice and vanity of “respectable” public figures, it calls into question conventional definitions of sanity while lampooning celebrity culture.

The Curious Savage first premiered on Broadway on October 24, 1950 and starred Lillian Gish.

On the weekend of, November 4, Helena High will host the District 6 Trumbauer Festival by the Alabama Conference of Theaters.

“There will be around 600 theater students at HHS that weekend performing in various categories to qualify to go to the state level at UNA in December,”  Casey noted.

Trumbauer is a competition with categories such as Studio One Act Play, Solo Comedic Monologue, Solo Male Pantomime, Solo Drama Musical, Duet Pantomime—all categories won by HHS students in the past.

“Lastly,” Casey said, “we will be performing the musical Annie on February 8-11.”

Annie, a Broadway musical that opened in 1977 ran for six years, setting a record. It spawned many productions in numerous countries, as well as national tours and won a Tony for Best Musical.

It was based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip, Little Orphan Annie.

The songs “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life“ are among its most popular musical numbers.

Cast members of The Curious Savage include Mason Schober as Florence; Laurel Briley as Fairy Mae; Ashli Funches as Ms. Paddy; Lauren Beagle as Ms. Savage; Julia Stith as Lily Belle; Adam McCain as Dr. Emmett; Josh Gruhn as Jeff; Matthew Jordan as Hannibal; Karsten Rothe as TItus and MarcAnthony Coronel as Samuel.