Pirates take the stage for an old comedy act

PALMER — “Pirates of Penzance,” a historical comedic play brought to life in modern times, will open on July 7 at the Glenn Massay Theater on the Mat-Su College campus.

The story follows Frederick, a young pirate apprentice who is released from his contract on his 21st birthday. The contract was originally signed when he was a child by his hard-of-hearing nursemaid, Ruth, who mistook his father’s directions to sign him up for a ship’s pilot apprenticeship. Frederick is finally freed from his contract, and sets out to exterminate all pirates, even the kind ones he had worked for his entire life. He soon meets the love of his life, Mabel, and wishes to marry her, but finds out that he was born on February 29 of a leap year and is actually only five years old. Bound by duty and the contract, Frederick must return to his apprenticeship to work for the pirates until he is in his 80s.

This version of the play deviates very little from the original, according to director AJ Seims, but the humor is still as relevant and relatable now as it was in in 1979 when it was first debuted. Even in terms of cultural status, not much has changed.

“Actually, it is relevant to a lot of culture here even now…with rich people being a little above the others,” Seims said. “These pirates we come to find out are actually noblemen that have gone wrong, and so they get all their titles back and everything at the end.”

The play is known as an operetta, a style often done by the “Pirates of Penzance” creators, Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert. Different from an opera, operettas have more talking and are usually comedic.

“It was meant to be silly; it was kind of one of those [plays] where they make fun of the opera,” Seims said, “It’s not stuffy like operas are.”

For Seims, this has been a play that he has loved since childhood, even before he was involved in performing arts. Seims graduated from college with a degree in theater, and originally planned to move to Hollywood, willing to live in a truck while pursuing acting.

“But I started dating this girl, and suddenly Hollywood didn’t seem that great anymore, and we got married,” he said.

Since then he has been contributing to the Alaskan theater scene to feed his love of the stage. For a couple years, he acted in a one-man show about an old sourdough character called Moosejaw who would tell Robert W. Service tales, or even stories written by Seims himself.

In the past year, Seims has also been involved in the productions of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “A Christmas Carol.” For “Fiddler on the Roof,” he invited prolific Utah director, Rodger Sorensen, to take over so that he could act in the play.

The cast consists of a mix high schoolers, college students, and non-students. Auditions were open to the entire community. Many of the same actors and crew from past plays are coming back for this production, including Kelly Rentz.

“I’m having a blast. This is probably the most fun that I’ve ever had doing a show, it’s a lot of fun,” she said.

Rentz plays the nursemaid, Ruth, a character who develops considerably over the course of the play.

“I like that she’s very multi-layered. First she’s just an old wench on the boat, and then she gets to be a pirate later,” said Rentz.

Rentz did many plays in high school, then after a short break and a bout of stage fright, she was dragged back in by her daughters, who are both involved in theater. She most enjoys watching the actors grow in their skills, and believes that on opening night the audience will be impressed at the quality of talent.

“It’s been a lot of fun watching the young people grow in their rolls. When they first get here they’re kind of a little stiff, and a little scared to get out there.”

Jarett Hardy, a recent graduate from Palmer High School, plays Frederick, the pirate apprentice. Hardy has been involved in theater for six years, but this will be the first time he has performed on such a big stage with such unique challenges.

“This is the first production that I’ve gotten to do where there’s big choreography or just doing any of these big stunts. I like doing that,” he said.

Tickets are $20 for adults, and $10 for ages 12 and under. All shows are at 7 p.m., and will take place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for several weeks in July. Seims chose to make admission lower for children as he hopes they will find the same joy in the play as he did when he was young.

“Our job is to entertain, and that’s really what we want. We just want the audience to have fun and to enjoy themselves and to laugh, and I think there’s going to be a lot of laughing,” said Rentz.

The crew of “Pirates of Penzance,” will also have a pirate ship float in the upcoming Fourth of July parade in Wasilla to promote the play.