THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603130155
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
COLLEEN RYAN dreams of being a whole actress.
``In the third grade I was the ``dirty'' Cinderella,'' she said. Another girl portrayed Cinderella after the transformation.
In the current Hurrah Players production ``Jack and the Beanstalk,'' she is half a bovine. The rear part of Bessie the Cow, to be precise, the 12-year-old sixth-grade honor student at Gatesville Elementary School said.
Colleen and two other Gates County girls, Whitney and Madison Ward, and David DeLong, of Suffolk, are among the 42 performers in ``Jack and the Beanstalk. The production is one of Hurrah's most ambitious, with ``high-energy dancing and singing,'' director Hugh Copeland said. ``But the visuals steal the show.''
One of them is the cow, costumed to give it flexibility and the ability to keep up with the company dancers in several numbers.
Another is the Giant, garbed in an outfit worn by Lucius Bennett. It enables him to reach 12 feet. He climbs a 20-foot-tall beanstalk.
Other visual delights include the giant's castle, some of his oversized belongings, a human harp, a tap dancing golden goose which lays golden eggs when not tapping, and those magic beans that are traded for Bessie.
Colleen, who plays that cow's back end, credits Whitney and Madison with getting her into Hurrah. ``They told me to give it a try.''
All three girls have studied with Barbara Toti, a drama teacher in Gates County, have had several years of dance lessons and are members of Suffolk's Fine Arts Center.
``We do homework on the way to practice,'' Colleen said. ``On the way back, we talk - mostly about boys.''
David DeLong, 12, of Adams Drive, is part of the chorus. His parents are Jane and Walter DeLong.
David is understudying the role of Jack, as well as the Magic Peddler.
``At first I didn't mind being the understudy. Now, I've decided never to do it again,'' David said. ``You have to learn everything but you're not able to do anything.''
He does enjoy performing but says his goal is to be ``a college professor teaching social studies.''
The Ward girls want to stay in showbiz.
``I like hearing people laughing and I like the applause,'' said 12-year-old Whitney, a Central Middle School seventh-grader.
Madison, 10, a fifth-grader at T.S. Cooper Elementary School, has high ambitions. ``I want to be a movie director.''
The girls, straight-A students, are the daughters of Susan and Roger Ward of Sunbury.
Colleen, Whitney and Madison plan to try for roles in ``The Emperor's New Clothes,'' the spring production at the Gallery Theatre in Ahoskie.
Meanwhile, they and David are concentrating on ``Jack and the Beanstalk.''
One show after another, and they love it.
``I like being somebody I'm not,'' Madison said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
From left, Madison Ward, David DeLong, Whitney Ward and Colleen Ryan
star in the Hurrah Players' ``Jack and the Beanstalk,'' which is
being performed at Willett Hall in Portsmouth.
AT A GLANCE
What: ``Jack and the Beanstalk''
When: 7 p.m. March 15 and 22; 3 p.m. March 16, 17, 23, 24
Where: Willett Hall, Portsmouth
Tickets: $11 and $9, at Central Fidelity Bank, box office at 935
Woodrow Ave., Norfolk; call 623-7418
by CNB