Nominated for six Tony Awards, including best musical, Starmites is a rock and role comic book that is great for the whole family!
Starmites – a youthful, high-energy adventure fantasy where humans and heroes conquer the sinister inhabitants of Inner-space and discover love, loyalty, inner strength and a great doo-wop beat along the way. With the timeless appeal of The Wizard Of Oz and Little Shop Of Horrors, yet unique style of a rock and roll comic book, Starmites is exciting, touching, and great fun for the entire family.
Vagabond Acting Troupe’s Jr. Professional Ensemble of actors aged 10 to 15, brings this hopping musical to life with Starmites High School Version, music and lyrics by Barry Keating and book by Stuart Ross and Barry Keating. The show, a slightly shortened version of the Broadway musical, will be presented for five performances, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., Jan. 16, 17 and 18 and Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. on January 23 and 24 with a snow date of Jan. 25 (if required, this is a 2 p.m. matinee).
Starmites is directed by Vagabond Acting Troupe’s Artistic director, and founder of the 22 year old touring troupe, Aileen McCulloch of Morgantown, with music direction by Stephen Fisher of Ephrata.
Shy teenager Eleanor (played by Rachel Wilkin of Glenmoore, PA) has built a fantasy world around the sci-fi comic books she collects. To the distress of her mother (Alex McClelland of Honey Brook), she has learned to avoid the pains of growing up by escaping into fantasy, imagining herself to be an unrecognized superhero named MiLady.
When she is mysteriously thrust into the Website World of her favorite comic book, Eleanor is drawn into the conflict between Shak Graa, Arch-Creep of Chaos, (played by Erik Ruch of Coatesville) and the Starmites, guardian angels of Innerspace. (Lionel McCulloch and Jasper Krikorian of Morgantown, Drew Kalkeiwicz of Exton, Geordie Jarvis of Coatesville and Evan Dampman of West Chester).
She turns out to really be the legendary Milady, teen superhero who must lead the Mites and the lizard creature Trinkulus (Hannah Elliott) on their Quest to save the Galaxy.
Standing in her way are a colorful assortment of Bowie-esque villains including the delightfully flamboyant Diva, Queen of Innerspace (Seanna Krikorian) and her Banshee warriors – Destiny’s Childish sirens with a ravenous hunger for Boy Bands. When Diva decides that her daughter, Bizarbarra (Grace Storti of Chester Springs) should marry one of the Starmites, things really get dicey for Eleanor.
But with the help of hip-hop heartthrob Space Punk (Lionel McCulloch), Eleanor must learns to own up to the inner power she has always denied, if she wants to defeat her foes and conquer the evil force of the “Cruelty.”
Eleanor’s quest is told through a bold blend of contemporary musical styles: Hip-Hop, Boy Band, Girl Group, Gospel, traditional Broadway, and Rap. Starmites conjures up a fantastical world reminiscent of Spielberg, Lucas, and Tim Burton, with a touch of inspiration from Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.
The Banshees are Celia Hernandez, Sophia and Josie Colantuno, Sami Uggla, Paige Byerly, Alex McClelland, Christie Gunwaldson, Skye Graham, Caitlyn and Sarah Boone, and Kristina Nelson.
“Starmites is a great adventure for the whole family, and a great last journey for our young Vagabond actors in our current home in Glenmoore, PA,” says McCulloch. “We look forward to our move to serving the children of Coatesville with even more wonderful and exciting adventures in 2015!”
This is the final production in the Vagabond Acting Troupe’s current home at the Arts House at 30 Fairview Road, Honey Brook, before the company prepares for a move to become the cornerstone of a growing arts consortium in Coatesville. The company departs their current location in early February, with hopes to begin operations in their new location this coming spring.
“We’ve really loved working at the Arts House,” explains McCulloch, “but the rising rent finally pushed us out. With our goal to reach every child regardless of income, we couldn’t justify raising the cost on our participants to pay a sky rocketing rent. So we’re on the move to match our goal to reach all children with affordable arts options!”
Starmites is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
