Lampeter-Strasburg townlively.com
FEBRUARY 19, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Lampeter-Strasburg High School students to put on “Mamma Mia!” BY GEORGE DEIBEL
Feed My Starving Children event planned for March 28 to 30 BY GEORGE DEIBEL
T
he cast and crew of Lampeter-Strasburg High School’s production of “Mamma Mia!” is confident those who take a chance on seeing the show will be saying, “Thank you for the music.” “It’s a fun, energetic show,” said Mia LaFontaine, who will portray Donna. “It’s a humorous show. There is a lot of comedy throughout with strong characters and a good love story at the end.” “Mamma Mia!” will be performed in Lampeter-Strasburg H i g h S c h o o l ’s Pe r f o r m i n g Arts Center, 1640 Book Road, Lancaster. The show dates and times will be Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, March 1, at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.zeffy.com/ticketing/mam ma-mia-2025-spring-musical or at the door using cash or a card. Doors will open at 6 p.m. on Feb. 27 and 28 and at 1 p.m. on March 1. Director Kevin Ditzler noted that “Mamma Mia!” is an ideal choice for this spring. “We assess the talent we feel we have and know we have the components needed to put on a strong musical,” said Ditzler. “As we were looking down the line, we knew we had a lot of really strong female talent, and we have a lot of quirky male comedians. This show lends itself perfectly to being able to highlight the strong female talent and utilize the comic ability of the cast. We hadn’t done anything vocally quite as contemporary with pop music in a while, so we thought this was a good opportunity. We
try, over a four-year period, to give students different types of musicals. They hadn’t touched upon something like this before, so we figured it was a good opportunity. And darn it, it’s just fun.” In addition to Mia as Donna, the main cast is Amara Russell as Sophie, Audrey Weiand as Ali, Sigey Bett as Lisa, Luda Lozada as Nancy, Ciara Mecouch as Tanya, Ellie Rhinier as Rosie, Julian Ford as Sky, Micah Drouillard as Pepper, Xavier Thomas as Eddie, Gabe Bostdorf as Harry Bright, Cast members rehearse a musical number. James Appelgrijn as Bill Austin, than we did when we were picking fun show, and people will know a Trenton B reneman as S am songs from our childhood,” said lot of the songs we do.” Carmichael, and Isaac Staley as Ditzler. “They know them as well Mia stated that her character Father Alexander. from the success plays a central role in the story. “Mamma Mia!” of the Broadway “Donna is a strong single mom takes place on the “I think it’s a really musical (‘Mamma who has raised her daughter for fictional Greek Mia!’).” 20 years,” she said. “She’s just fun show, and island of Kalokairi Trenton enjoyed struggling to keep her business people will know l e a r n i n g s o m e open. She meets her three past and is based on a lot of the songs o f A B B A’s l e s s - (boyfriends) and feels conflicted. songs by the Swedish band ABBA. er-known works. “I She doesn’t know how to deal we do.” Although ABBA know the popular with that and is still in love with hit the music scene s ongs ,” Trenton one of them.” in the 1970s, Ditzler said many of said. “I didn’t know all the Mia believes the production his students are familiar with the less-popular songs, but they actu- will be especially meaningful to songs. ally ended up being some of our people who lived through the “( T he students) probably favorites. They mean a lot more 1970s - when ABBA was formed showed even greater enthusiasm to the show. I think it’s a really - and also will appeal to everyone.
The seeds for the annual Lancaster County Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) event were planted in 2013 when pediatrician Dr. Lora Mangus Wenger and her family visited Haiti with members of Willow Street Mennonite Church as part of a Mission of Hope mission trip. “At that time, (Mission of Hope) was feeding 50,000 children a day by distributing meals to their school, other schools, and or phanages,” Mangus Wenger said. “A warehouse (of food provided by FMSC) was stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes.” Mangus Wenger had never heard of FMSC before that and decided to do some research after returning home. She discovered there were no MobilePack events taking place in Pennsylvania, so she and her husband, Todd, and daughters, Anna and Naomi, participated in a MobilePack in New Jersey. “I thought, ‘We can probably do this ourselves,’” she recalled. W illow S treet Mennonite Church got involved and hosted the first Lancaster County MobilePack in 2014. That event attracted 50 volunteers and put together 100,000 meals. This year will mark a milestone. Because two years were canceled because of COVID, the 10th Lancaster County FMSC MobilePack will take place Friday to Sunday, March 28 to 30, at Willow Street Mennonite Church, 399 E. Penn Grant Road, Willow Street. To date, meals have gone to Somalia, Haiti, Belize, the
See “Mamma Mia!” pg 5
See FMSC pg 4
The cast of Lampeter-Strasburg High School’s production of “Mamma Mia!”
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