Presents...
The Revolutionary Revue is a musical about the time when America was a part of England. It's sixty minutes of music, dance and comedy about the events leading to the founding of our nation.
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Christopher Columbus and the People of the Americas.
Christopher Columbus was an Italian who worked for the King and Queen of Spain. He believed correctly that you could sail west from Europe and get to Asia where there were treasures to be found, so the Europeans believed. Many Europeans wanted to do three things: get more land and power, convert the rest of the world to Catholicism, and get rich. And also find a new way to Asia to increase trade in valuable goods like cinnamon and silk. They called this, "God, Glory and Gold."
Columbus didn't understand that there were two continents in the way--the Americas. In 1492 he sailed west and explored the Caribbean islands. He thought he was in Asia. He wasn't. And he wasn't very nice to the locals. Often cruel, in fact. After Columbus, many other explorers struck out from Europe to explore, and exploit, what they called the "new world." That's when England claimed part of North America for its own.
Meet Kristin Alarcon
Kristin plays Wild Billy Jeen, Paul Revere, and many other characters. She is also our choreography, which means she devised all the dancing and taught it to the other actors. She is busy as a performer and dancer, and teaches high school as well. Kristin has two cats. Kristin has performed many times with Jester Educational Theater.
Meet Ashley Moore.
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Ashley plays Columbus, Suzie Lovely, Betty Parris, and the Town Crier. She loves to run and has two young kids. Ashley has been in "The Revolutionary Revue" before.
Meet Lydia Fleming.
Lydia plays Tituba, King Louis, George Washington, and is the lead singer on "Go Down to the River."
About a hundred years after Columbus, regular folk began moving from Europe. The trip across the Atlantic was long and dangerous. The people who moved to America's north were the Pilgrims. Other immigrants went
to the south and founded Jamestown and Williamsburg. Around 1610.
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Meet Erik Montague
Erik plays Uncle Sam, Johnny Brightly, and Pete Larrabee.
The Salem Witch Trials.
In 1692, 11 year-old Betty Parris of Salem, Massachusetts started seeing witches and accused her Caribbean slave/nanny Tituba of being a
witch. This started a hysteria of witch hunting. Many
people were accused and tried for witchcraft. Many were hanged. No one quite knows what caused this sad and deadly killing spree to happen.
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Meet Austyn Stone.
Slavery
From 1621 to 1865 Americans kidnapped Africans and brought them here to be slaves. This happened mostly in the South. It was
cruel and sad. Some slaves escaped to the North thanks to the Under-ground Railroad and conductors like Harriet Tubman. Slave songs sometimes held secret messages about how to escape, like use rivers to throw off the tracker dogs, and use the North Star at night to keep on track to the north.
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Rachael plays King George, the Judge, and Thomas Jefferson, all roles she has played in this show before. Rachael works for the Elsinore Theater in Salem, but not the same Salem as where the Witch Trials happen. Salem, Oregon, not Massachusetts. Rachael has a young son.
Meet Rachael Loop.
The thirteen English
colonies got more and more tired of King George III, who wanted more and more money from the colonies. When the King
put a tax on the sale of tea,
the colonists were really mad. One night they dressed up like Indians, sneaked onto a merchant boat and dumped all the tea into Boston Harbor ("The Boston Tea Party"of 1773.) King George was not amused.
Relations with King George got worse and worse and
fighting began. It was too much for the colonists. A group of revolutionaries
began planning a new country. It was an exciting and dangerous time. These Revolutionaries included
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, who was to be our first president.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the "Declaration of Independence," a letter to the world stating that we were now our own country and giving the reasons for breaking off from England. Once again, King George was not amused and continued the war with America. He lost, and America was born on July 4th, 1776.
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We thank our sponsors ~
The Wyss Family Foundation
The Starseed Foundation
The Windermere Foundation
The Autzen Foundation
Allison Couch
Richard Stein
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Meet Andi Bean.
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Andi plays violin in our band.
Meet Yolanda Porter.
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Yolanda is our Assistant Stage Manager. Yolanda works closely with Katie backstage to make sure that everything is set, all the performers have the right props in their hands, and they go on stage at the right time. Yolanda was born in Mexico and grew up in Los Angeles. If you see her at the show you can say hi to her in Spanish or English--either works! Yolanda has a daughter in middle school.
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Meet Katie Minter.
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Katie is our Stage Manager. That means she is in charge of the show on performance days.
Meet Leander.
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Leander is our Director and pianist. He also conducts the band from his keyboard during performances and writes arrangements of the songs. Leander works closely with Kevin to create the show you see on the stage. Leander has performed all over America and Europe. These days he lives in Portland and teaches people how to sing and play piano. And he's a great chef!
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Meet Mitch Iimori.
Mitch plays over 50 instruments. He plays just about every wind instrument as well as banjo and guitar. In our show you will hear him play oboe, alto saxophone, piccolo, clarinet, and the chain. Mitch is from Japan and speaks Japanese. He has performed many times with Jester Educational Theater.
Meet Kevin Muir.
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Kevin is the Artistic Director. He writes and produces the shows you see. Being in rehearsal is one of his favorite things, right up there with being with young people at a JET performance. Once upon a time he taught grade school for 30 years. Now he just eats chocolate and does crosswords and runs a theater company. Life is good!
Meet Deb Blakewood
Visit our other official website for more information about our theater company: JesterEdTheater.org.