'SpongeBob' washes up in Gainesville this weekend
Jun. 15—North Central Texas College's Drama department debuts "The SpongeBob Musical" this weekend.
The show, which kicks off Friday, follows the characters from the SpongeBob cartoon as they deal with an undersea volcano threatening their hometown and how the chaos divides parts of the community. The cast includes local residents of all ages who bring the fantastical world of Bikini Bottom to life.
"The cast and community of cast family members and friends have been here to assist throughout the entire process," said Director Austin Creswell. "It has some of those real quotable lines that everyone knows and loves from the TV show ... but I think anyone from any age, any adult could watch the show, and I hope that makes them think, if anything, about just the joy they bring to the world and how their perspective can change based on whatever outlook they have in the day, and how communities come together and should come together to support one another."
While the show is lighthearted and fun for kids, it also reflects our world, particularly with the sets and props — many of which are made of products that could have made it to the bottom of the ocean.
"This whole show talks about themes of 'Tidal Warming' and things like that environmentally, some of the same discourse that we see in our world today. For me, this show kind of wraps up a lot of things that we see in our world and puts it in a in a family friendly and kid friendly package, and in a way to really think about our world," said Creswell. "I specifically wanted to do found plastic ... so my family started saving plastic and my colleagues at the theater started saving plastic and then we asked the cast to start saving plastic. It became 'Look at how much plastic this small corner of the world is consuming and bringing to the set.' ... And so with the design, I wanted to be like, you know, how much plastic am I using? How much plastic are we using? And can we repurpose it for this? And so it became kind of a little personal project to think about our ecological footprint."
While there are some more serious moments in the show to encourage people to think, there is also an overall theme of optimism in difficult situations and coming together.
"I think SpongeBob is very optimistic," said Desmond Pouncil, who is bringing the titular character to life. "He's always seeing the brighter side of a dark situation, and I think I can relate to that a lot about just staying positive and keeping high hopes in the things that I do."
Performances will be held at NCTC Gainesville's First State Bank Center for the Performing Arts. Shows are on June 16, 22, 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m. and June 25 at 2:30 p.m.
There will also be a sensory friendly performance at 2:30 p.m. on June 17 for individuals who may have young children or sensory issues.
"The sensory friendly show is something that we started doing last summer with 'Shrek,'" said Cresswell. "It's becoming more common in the theater world to open up more accessibility to theater, and that's what the sensory friendly theater does. It allows maybe super small children that have that maybe can't sit still for two-and-a-half hours ... or have sensory issues or triggering sensory overload stuff like that. And we adapt our performance and leave the audience lights up to make it a little bit more palatable for people of all sensory needs. It allows more access to everyone for everyone to see theater."
Tickets are available online at nctc.edu/performing-arts/box-office. Regular performance tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for high school and younger. All tickets for the sensory friendly show are five dollars.
For more information, call 940-668-3355.
