"Miss Nelson Is Missing!" at Augustana College -- October 11 and 12.
Saturday, October 9, and Sunday, October 10, 1:30 p.m.
Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, 3750 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL
A family-friendly treat that the River Cities' Reader said “bubbles with color, personality, and wit,” the sweet and hilarious musical Miss Nelson Is Missing! opens the 2021-22 theatre season at Augustana College on October 9 and 10, the show based on a series of beloved, best-selling children's books by Harry Allard and James Marshall.
In the world of composer and stage author Joan Cushing's Miss Nelson Is Missing!, the title character's class is the worst behaved in the whole school. Spitballs flying across the room, paper airplanes sailing every which way, and uncontrollable children send gentle, long-suffering Miss Nelson over the edge. But the students of Room 207 are in for a surprise when their teacher suddenly vanishes and is replaced by Viola Swamp, a no-nonsense substitute so awful that she even has the nerve to assign them piles of homework. Through the course of the show, the students learn lessons of appreciation and respect as they set out to find their beloved Miss Nelson ... but will they ever get her back? The answer awaits audiences in this delightful one-act family entertainment, a treat for all ages that the Buffalo News deemed "an enchanting musical" that "is not to be missed."
Directing Miss Nelson Is Missing! for Augustana alumna and Brunner Theatre Outreach Coordinator Jackie McCall, whose previous family entertainments for the college have included Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook,The Frog & the Princess, and Aesop's (Oh So Slightly) Updated Fables. Bailey Hacker portrays both Miss Nelson and Viola Swamp in McCall's production, with the cast completed by Alyssa Frazier, Kaitlin Jacobson, AJ Perez, Haley Tromblee, and Benedict Wood. And with Jonathan Jaworowski serving as music director and Michael Tarchala as choreographer, the rest of the show's creative team includes stage manager Lindsey Edwards, assistant stage manager Maggie Caliendo, scenic designer Cameron L. Strandin, master electrician Synth Gonzalez, costume designer Carly Davis, costume-shop manager Emily Bushá, props designer Trinity Filut, and lighting designer and technical director Mike Turczynski.
Miss Nelson Is Missing! will be performed in Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center at 1:30 p.m. on October 9 and 10, admission is $5, and face masks are required on campus. For more information and tickets, caall (309)794-7306 and visit Augustana.edu/tickets.
