Event will pay tribute to two legends in Greater New Bedford theater — but that's not all
NEW BEDFORD — "What was your favorite show throughout the years?" New Bedford High 10th grader and drama club member Alexandra Racicot asked former longtime drama club directors for the high school, George Charbonneau and Armand Marchand, during their visit with students on Monday.
The response was relatively swift for a question with 50 years-worth of potential answers.
"The funny thing is — and you learn this very early — you're not supposed to have a favorite if you are a director," Marchand said. "I'll tell you the one that was New Bedford's favorite by far was 'The Wiz.' You still hear people talking about that show."
Charbonneau's and Marchand's meet-and-greet in the Philip Bronspiegel Auditorium came as the drama club was practicing for an upcoming Oct. 22 event dubbed Welcome to the Theatre! — a night of performances that pay tribute to the pair for their contributions to the local theater scene over their careers at New Bedford High and then New Bedford Festival Theatre. The evening will start out with the debut of "Legends Among Us," a short documentary about Charbonneau's and Marchand's legacy of raising the bar for high school and local theater productions.
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Charbonneau and Marchand set a new standard of theatrical excellence
"High school theater can sometimes have a negative connotation as being less-than or silly, and if there's one thing I learned George and Armand as a kid in the audience and then later working with them, it's that it doesn't have to be that way," said Sarah Cadieux Pacheco, NBHS Drama Club co-director and teaching/learning specialist for the arts. Cadieux Pacheco has known Charbonneau and Marchand since she was in high school working in Festival Theatre's apprenticeship program at the Zeiterion Theatre, now known as the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. "We’re lucky in this area that the high schools are doing really good work, and that’s mostly because a lot of the area high school directors learned from George and Armand."
Charbonneau and Marchand produced and directed 60 plays with the New Bedford High Drama Club from the time the current NBHS building on Hathaway Boulevard opened up in 1972 to their retirement in 2001. One of those was "Jesus Christ Superstar" in 1983, which served as a pivotal moment for their careers and the local theater scene when the Zeiterion Theatre decided to pick up the production. From there, the two continued working with the Zeiterion and were hired as co-directors for the theater's summer musicals while continuing their work with the NBHS Drama Club. In 1990, Marchand founded New Bedford Festival Theatre, which is now entering its 33rd season of performances at the Zeiterion.
The more, the merrier
"I'm most excited that the current drama club will be such a big part of this," David Allen Jeffrey, vice president of the board for New Bedford Festival Theatre, said of the Oct. 22 tribute event. Jeffrey, a 2001 NBHS grad, has known Charbonneau and Marchand since he was a drama club student who also worked under them in the Festival Theatre apprenticeship program. "The students are going to be doing the technical aspects of the show — designing the lighting and things like that — and the students from the school's Academy of Hospitality [and Tourism] will be acting as house manager and ushers, so it’s really a big community event."
Involving students in as many aspects of a production as possible is a definitive part of the way Charbonneau and Marchand did things when they ran the drama club, having students in roles that had been more commonly adult-run in high school theater up until then. Sitting in NBHS' "little theater" on Monday — a classroom space with built-in amphitheater-style seating just down the hall from the main auditorium — the two reflected on their years at the school, where they also both taught as classroom teachers.
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"Almost every year, somebody would come back from the years before, we would all meet here in the little theater before the curtain went up, and they’d tell the kids: you have no idea how good you have it right here in this building, because if you go on beyond this, it’s not going to be as professional," Charbonneau told The Standard-Times. "We had student stage managers, there would be one on stage left, one on stage right; students did the lighting — they ran everything.
"A lot of times during a show we'd be in the back watching and people would say what are you doing? Shouldn't you be backstage? And we'd say no, the kids are running the show."
"We tried to get as any students into a show as possible," Marchand said, recalling one instance where the entire NBHS football team got involved with a production of 'The King and I.'
"Football players didn't want to memorize lines ... so we had them as the guards in the king's throne room standing like this — ," Marchand said, crossing his arms and taking on an authoritative posture. "That's one advantage high school theater has over Broadway or famous theater companies in Boston and places like that: They will only have so many people because of budget constraints, but for us that was really unlimited to a certain degree."
Message from the pros: You can make a living doing what you love
While talking with the current drama club members Monday, Charbonneau and Marchand impressed upon them that theater — like other extracurricular activities one may start doing for enjoyment at a young age — has the power to shape lives.
"There's no business like show business," Marchand said, the group of students joining in unison to finish the well-known expression. "It's true — you better believe it. And it can take you anywhere. Today, cruise ships hire performers and other staff they need. Even teachers who may someday become directors of a drama club — yes, they are in show business.
"Never limit yourself by thinking, well, if I don't make it to Broadway, forget it. That's an old concept. ... There is theater going on everywhere."
Charbonneau said one key to success is shedding any fear of rejection, and even being turned down offers opportunity.
"If you're a performer ... it's not an easy profession," he said. "If you think you're right for something, go for it. If they tell you you're not right for it, it's not because they hate you — it's because there's something about you that's just not right for what they're looking for that time ... but in two years they may say, oh! I remember that guy or that girl — they'd be great for this. Let's call them up!"
Marchand told The Standard-Times he hopes that between the Oct. 22 Welcome to the Theatre! and the new scholarship fund being started in his and Charbonneau's name, his hope is to inspire "a recognition in the community of the importance of activity for our students — all kinds of activity."
Even for those who don't go on to pursue careers in it, being involved with theater or other activities often offers sanctuary during tough times, Charbonneau said.
"We’ve had a lot of kids who truly, truly found a home in drama club," he said. "They escaped problems in their home life and they’d come here and they found a family, and they actually found solace, peace and creativity here. Many of them would change for the better because of their involvement."
Jeffrey noted details around the scholarship — such as an official name for it and the number of students who will benefit from it per cycle — are still in the works. However, Festival Theatre members plan to award funds from it near the end of the current school year, in June 2023. More details will be announced in time, Jeffrey said.
Looking forward to a
Between participating performers, speakers and any other former pupils who may attend, Charbonneau and Marchand are excited to reunite with familiar faces on Oct. 22 — and there are a lot of them.
"We have graduates coming back to this event and they went on every pathway you can think of," Marchand said. "We have some surprise speakers who we don't even know about yet, so it's going to be an interesting night."
As an evident sign of their impact, Cadieux Pacheco cited how she can barely leave the house to do errands without having Charbonneau and Marchand come up somehow.
"Someone will ask me what I do, and when I tell them I’m the drama club director for New Bedford High School, I constantly hear: I was there when George and Armand were there! I used to go to their shows!," said Cadieux Pacheco. "I hear about how important they were to people all the time, and I know they hear it too, but I’m really looking forward to them getting to hear it all in one place. They’ve changed so many lives."
"You're all that comes up at the dinner table!" NBHS 10th grader Olivia Viera told the two during their group talk after sharing that members of her family are former students of theirs. "Whenever I talk about drama club, it's: Oh my God! George and Armand changed my life!"
"Hopefully they'll be here on Oct. 22," Charbonneau told her.
If you go
WHAT: Welcome to the Theatre!: 50 years of Performing Arts in Our City (A tribute to Armand Marchand & George Charbonneau)
WHEN: Oct. 22, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: New Bedford High School, Philip Bronspiegel Auditorium, 230 Hathaway Blvd.
HOW: General Admission tickets cost $25 each, with all proceeds to benefit New Bedford Festival Theatre's new scholarship fund and the New Bedford High School Drama Club. Tickets can be purchased in person at the Zeiterion Box office, 684 Purchase St.; or online at nbfestivaltheatre.com.
DETAILS: The event will feature speakers and performances by current and former New Bedford High School Drama Club members, as well as the debut of "Legends Among Us" — a documentary on Marchand and Charbonneau. The night will also feature a preview of the exhibit "Looking Back/ Looking Forward: 50 years of Performing Arts in Our City" — a collection of memorabilia from their plays over the span of their careers at New Bedford High.
Who will be there?
The following NBHS Drama Club alumni will be performing or speaking on Oct. 22:
Anne Marie Small, Class of 1978
Donna Ramos Wirzburger, Class of 1978
Denis Lawrence Jr., Class of 1981
Rhonda Matson, Class of 1986
Jason Duval, Class of 1990
Wendy Hall, Class of 1990
Mark H. Rooney, Class of 1991
Tom Giammalvo, Class of 1992
Mim Paquin, Class of 1992
Caroline Sargent, Class of 1994
Eric Gomes, Class of 1996
Jessica Soares-Cabral, Class of 1996
Stephen Nowell, Class of 1997
Peter Henry Dasilva, Class of 2000
Ian Abreu, Class of 2001
David Allen Jeffrey, Class of 2001
Kara McEachern, Class of 2002
_______
Upcoming productions
New Bedford High Drama Club: "A Christmas Carol" (December 2022), "Unsound Effects" (January 2023), "The Spongebob Musical" (April 2023).
For announcements on date/time and ticket details, visit nbhsdramaclub.weebly.com/
New Bedford Festival Theatre: "The Wiz" (opening April 27 at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center)
Visit the "Events" link at www.zeiterion.org for more information or to purchase tickets.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Theatrical tribute to Marchand, Charbonneau to kick off scholarship
