The 2024 Fall Festival stage production this year is the musical theater version of the 1980 movie 9 to 5 that starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton.
Damon Klassen, Bethel director of theater and the director of this production, calls 9 to 5 “my favorite kind of theater – simultaneously hilarious and dead serious.”
Show times are Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. and Oct. 6 at 2 p.m., all in Krehbiel Auditorium in Luyken Fine Arts Center at Bethel College.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.bethelks.edu/tickets/ or by visiting Thresher Shop in Schultz Student Center, weekdays 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Tickets will also be on sale in the Fine Arts Center ticket office starting one hour before each performance.
Note that the musical includes adult themes and content and may not be suitable for young children. Boklund Interpretation will provide sign language interpretation for the D/deaf community at the Friday evening performance.
The musical version of 9 to 5 hit Broadway in 2010, with music and lyrics by Parton and book by screenwriter Patricia Resnick.
The setting is the late 1970s in the United States, when the official language of the workplace was male chauvinism.
9 to 5 “meant a lot to working women at the time,” Klassen says. “How much have things changed? The glass ceiling has been cracked and compromised, but it remains far from shattered. In 2023, women occupied only 8% of the CEO positions at S&P companies. Women receive roughly 80% of the wages men get for the same work.
“That’s only a 20% improvement since 1980. Of course, the statistics are worse for women of color, LGBTQ+ women, migrant women, etc.”
In other words, a 1980 message might have a good bit of relevance yet today.
The cast of 9 to 5 includes Emily Guldner, senior from Independence, Mo., Madison Terrell, senior from Wichita, and Sophie Girtz, senior from Valley Center, in the three main roles of Violet, Judy and Doralee, with Rowen Schulz, sophomore from Lena, Ill., playing their boss, Franklin Hart Jr.
The rest of the cast comprises Kyra Linenberger, sophomore from Garden City, as Roz Keith; Tristan England, senior from Pretty Prairie, as Joe; Abby Chappell Deckert, senior from North Newton, as Maria; Pandora Freeman, first-year from Sedgwick, as Kathy; Emil Benavides, senior from Stockton, as Margaret; Abigail Grittman, junior from Shawnee, as Missy; Corbin Unruh, senior from Moundridge, as Dwayne; Jasper Krehbiel, junior from North Newton, as Dick; Peter Buller, senior from Inman, as Mr. Tinsworthy; Caleb Edward Villalba, sophomore from Haysville, as Josh; and Christopher Strecker Jr. as the Detective.
Several members of the men’s a cappella group Open Road will appear in some numbers.
The music director is Dr. Henry S. Waters. The technical director is Jocelyn Wilkinson. Choreography is by Caleb Neu. Rehearsal accompanists are Dr. Christina Liu and Phillip Balzer. Hair and makeup design is by Dex O’Neal.
The crew comprises Absynthe Cox, first-year from Wichita, deck chief, with Abby Chappell Deckert as assistant stage manager. Properties are by Preston Vicenzi, first-year from Newton, and costumes by Emil Benavides and Josef Anderson, first-year from Ellinwood. Micah Quinlin, senior from Newton, is the light board operator with Micah Wenger, sophomore from Hutchinson, on the sound board. Matthew Fleck, senior from Cherokee, and Miquel Ruiz Gasull, junior from Barcelona, are backstage.
Set construction is by members of the cast along with Josef Anderson, Ernest Ferrier, Sameer Greene, Travon Madison, Lilli Reisser, Preston Vicenzi and Austen Walker.
9 to 5 is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com
