Rachel Bublitz

Writer

THE NIGHT WITCHES Opening and New Draft

August 6, 2019

This past Saturday was opening for THE NIGHT WITCHES, produced and commissioned by the Egyptian YouTheatre, at the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival! And we sold out! We were full up for both of our weekend performances, in fact.

I saw the play on Sunday, and was so impressed by all the hard work put in by EVERYONE involved with this incredible show. I'd like to start with my incredible cast, pictured below:

Post card for THE NIGHT WITCHES.

Thank you: (left to right) Laura Fryer, Kat Moss, Isabella Andrews, E Romero, Keegan Fitlow, Chelsea Cowley, Karina Barker, Amanda Rossi, and Katherine Ward!

And double (triple?) thank you to Chelsea Cowley, who helped me with the lyrics for the original song in the piece, “Marina,” and for arranging the music. And for performing it so beautifully! But really, all the performances are outstanding. These young ladies are totally kicking all the butt. Seriously, they make a plane (and plane noises!) all with their bodies and voices, with the help of one or two instruments on stage. It's really something to see!

Also huge thank you to my brilliant director, Alexandra Harbold, and my attention loving and detailed oriented stage manager, Sammee Jackman. The costumes in this play are so well done and detailed, and for them I have a HUGE thank you for Candace Summerhays. THANK YOU Hyrum Summerhays, our sound designer, I didn't know a lot of my dreams for this play before he helped us figure out how to make them work. Thank you Peter Mayhew, our lighting designer, who does wonders creating atmosphere and danger, and all at our small Fringe venue! Thank you Zachary Barker, our tech assistant for all of your hard work! Thank you Emma Fox, who helped me, my cast, and my director to understand better what it's like to fly.

Finally, THANK YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK Jamie Wilcox! This is our second project together, and I am so thrilled you keep saying yes. We both are so interested in pushing both theatre and youth theatre, and I am so ecstatic that I get to keep making things with you. You are a gem.

And thank you to everyone who made it out! We've already gotten two great reviews:

Emilie Minshew with Front Row Reviewers writes:

"The small cast of 9 may be young, but they command the stage with an impressive momentum. The audience subconsciously strained forward to mirror the intensive physicality of the actresses until the ultimate release of tension at the conclusion of the show. I left feeling utterly haunted as the cast joined hands to sing a final song to Mother Russia. THE NIGHT WITCHES is an accessible historical delight that will leave you breathless from the harsh realities of war.”

Sara Claverie with the Utah Theatre Bloggers Association says:

"I didn’t know about this part of history and was pleasantly surprised to learn more about The Night Witches. This show is definitely a good show to see. The cast does well in their roles, and the premise is interesting. Tickets sell fast, so hurry before they sell out.”

We have THREE performances left, just three! Our first two sold out, so get your tickets while the getting is still good. Buy tickets right here!

Also exciting, there's a new draft up and ready on the New Play Exchange! If you're not able to make the show, go and give it a read. If you don't have access, please feel free to email me for a perusal copy.

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