Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Sarah Peachey Donegal High School president of the performing arts group.


Donegal High School's new auditorium seats 1,200 and, unlike the old one, is air-conditioned. Picture credit(Dan Marschka)
Sarah Peachey is undaunted by the prospect of performing in front of hundreds more people than she did last year.
"Once you have 700 people watching you, what's an extra 400?" the Donegal High School senior said, standing behind some half-painted scenery during a break in a recent play rehearsal.In fact, as many as 1,200 audience members could attend each performance next weekend to watch Peachey and her fellow cast members perform the vintage comedy "You Can't Take It With You," the first show presented on the stage of the high school's brand-new auditorium.

The performance space, which opened in August along with most of the rest of Donegal's new $38 million high school building in Mount Joy (the gym is still getting its finishing touches) still has that new-auditorium smell.
Its 1,200 seats, upholstered in a muted shade of green that manages to give off a golden glow under the house lights, take up plenty of real estate. They do so beneath a grid of light-brown acoustic panels suspended in space near the ceiling.
The new auditorium will be home not only to the fall play and spring musical, but to choir and band concerts and various programs and assemblies that can now accommodate the whole student body.
"The first time I walked in here, it took my breath away," said Moriah Newman, an English teacher and production manager for the school's Donegal Performing Arts organization. "And it's hard to say that about a high school auditorium."
Only now, there will be a lot more seats from which to watch.
"You Can't Take It With You" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18. Tickets cost $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors, and are available at the door one hour before showtime. A free dress-rehearsal performance for senior citizens begins at 2 p.m. Thursday. Click to read the article By Mary Ellen Wright Correspomdent Lancaster newspapers.
Sunday News Nov 11, 2012 00:06 Mount Joy