Risen stars from Norfolk’s Hurrah Players are scattered across the firmament of American professional theater. On Broadway, Off-Broadway and in national tours, shows such as Stomp, Wicked, Avenue Q, Aida, Cats, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera and Oliver have showcased the talents of this local troupe’s veterans. (So have TV shows and movies.)
Hurrah has a good claim to being Hampton Roads’ most important community theater group. For all the success of the company’s productions—the equal of anything short of the professional or institutional, pre-professional companies—its importance really comes from its success as a training ground for young performers, and as a place for youngsters simply to enjoy doing theater, now.
It’s not only performers who get their start at Hurrah. Countless young people who first encountered live theater watching a Hurrah show, or being in one, now thrill to the myriad joys of attending plays and musicals, thanks to the introduction Hurrah gave them.
Hurrah ended 2008 with the latest version of its annual Holidays in Virginia review. This compilation of seasonal songs and lively dance numbers showcased at least one real star in the making, even as the company’s own star is on the rise.
The ‘08 edition had a cast of 71 performers. Some were children not quite old enough to enter first grade. One performer, Hurrah dance instructor Co Harrison, who was also one of the show’s three choreographers, got her professional start as a USO dancer in the latter half of the 1940s. There were a host of outstanding solo performers and exceptional company members, but 16-year-old Schuyler Midgett came as close to being the show’s star as anyone could ever be. She’s an exceptional dancer, a strong singer, and has compelling stage presence whether she’s in a group or selling a song on her own.
Miss Midgett has her sights set on New York once she’s out of high school, according to her mother, Hurrah staffer, instructor and choreographer Lisa Wallace. (Hurrah founder and Artistic Director Hugh Copeland was the third choreographer for Holidays in Virginia.)
The Hurrah Players also have plans.
After nine years of church basement rehearsals and classes, followed by 16 years of squeezing rehearsal and teaching facilities, storage space and offices into an old armored car depot on the north edge of Ghent—all the while performing at rented auditoria such as the Virginia Beach Pavilion, Willett Hall and TCC’s Roper Center in Norfolk—Hurrah has found a full service home of its own.
Its recent 25th Anniversary Gala featured the announcement that Hurrah is raising funds to buy the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce Building—the old Norfolk Academy—at the intersection of Bank and St. Paul’s Boulevard.
They hope to make the move next year, said Copeland.
"We’ll be right in the middle of the arts community. The Virginia Stage Company is just blocks away. The new Virginia Arts Festival headquarters will be our front door neighbor and Chrysler Hall is beside us. We’re delighted!"
Just like Hurrah Players’ company members and audiences have been for the last quarter century.
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