From left, Jessica Erkkila, Nora Cullinon, Eleanor Henderson, Ben Hanlon, Shay, Eben Bold and Laurin Partin. The group are part of the cast and crew of ‘Mary Poppins’. They will travel with the company to participate in the Popejoy Awards next week. Photo by Bonnie J. Gordon/ladailypost.com

By BONNIE J. GORDON
Los Alamos Daily Post

The cast of the Los Alamos High School Olions production of “Mary Poppins” will travel to Albuquerque next week to compete in the 2017 Popejoy Awards, which take place at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, May 14 at Popejoy Hall. Tickets are available through unmtickets.com at a cost of $40 for support seats, $25 general admission and $10 for students.

The entire production will compete for Best Production, best ensemble and best direction. Five students will compete for Best Actor and Best Actress awards. Lauren Partin, Jessica Erkkila and Ben Hanlon were chosen by Popejoy Awards adjudicators to compete. The winning students will travel to New York City to compete in the national competition.

Nora Cullinan and Eben Bold have been named to the Directors Choice Chorus, which sings the Act I Finale and joins the entire company for the show finale. Members of the Directors Choice Chorus are chosen by their high school drama teachers to represent their programs from among those playing roles other than the leads.

“The Popejoys are the New Mexico Tonys for high school students,”  “production director and Olions sponsor Shay said.

“We’ll spend a week rehearsing medleys, group numbers and solos,” Partin said.

One solo must be from “Mary Poppins” and the other is chosen by the student.
 
Partin, who played Mary Poppins in the production is a senior at Los Alamos High School. This is her third year with Olions. She has also spent four years singing in the Young Voices of the Santa Fe Opera. She will attend BIOLA College in Southern California next year and plans to major in music education. Partin was selected for BIOLA’s honors institute.

“I want to be a choir teacher,” Partin said. “I hope to pass on what I’ve learned.”

Ben Hanlon, who plays Bert to Partin’s Mary Poppins, is a senior this year. This was his first dramatic role, although he has previously been involved with choir at LAHS. The vocal and the dramatic are only two of Hanlon’s artistic talents. Next year, he will major in graphic design at the Chicago Art Institute.

Jessica Erkkila plays Winifred Banks in “Mary Poppins”.  She is a sophomore and participated in all three Olions productions this year.

“I’m very interested in theater, possibly as a profession,” she said.

Sophomore Nora Cullinan played the evil nanny, Miss Andrew, in “Mary Poppins.  Cullinan has also been in Light Opera and Los Alamos Theater productions, in addition to performing with Olions.

Junior Eben Bold had the challenging role of playing the living statue Neleus in “Mary Poppins.”  He said the most difficult part of the role was “trying not to blink.”

“When you do blink, you have to worry that someone saw you!” he said.

Bold wants to be a stand-up comic as his career.

Director Shay is a substitute teacher at LAHS. He graduated from UC-San Diego in theater. Storytelling is his great love.

“I’m a backstage guy,” he said. “I get to do what I love, and that’s pretty wonderful.”
 
Shay said the three directors, music director Jason Rutledge, choreographer Patrick MacDonald and himself, complemented each other very well and worked as a real team to make “Mary Poppins” a success.
 
This  interview and publicity for “Mary Poppins” were organized by freshman Eleanor Henderson, who played Fannie in the show.

“Olions is really awesome,” she said. “It’s an incredible community to be part of.”