Matilda the Musical Recap

St. John’s Catholic School has a reputation for high quality drama performances over

the past few decades.  Like many other school activities, performing came to a halt in

March of 2019 due to the pandemic. The students were only one week out from

performing the full version of “Fiddler on the Roof”. This abruptness was devastating to

the cast and crew, and the musical was never performed.  It has been a long recovery

period to resurrect the Drama Club at St. John’s; we needed to build the interest and the

funding to bring back this once popular after school activity.  

Last year, St. John’s had a “taste” of drama again with Charlie and the Chocolate

Factory, performed by Mrs. Sullivan’s fourth grade class. The response was well

received and gave our Director Mrs. Pamela Sullivan a glimmer of hope that she could

rebuild the Drama Club.  Mrs. Sullivan expressed that involvement in theater allows the

students to shine in public expression and characterization, which aligns with our

classical curriculum.

Over the past few months, twenty-nine students, a handful of faculty, and parent

volunteers dedicated many hours in preparation to proudly host “Matilda, Jr.” the

musical!  The show opened Friday, March 22 at 6pm, and drew nearly 250 people!  It

was a fantastic opening night, and the students were excited to perform three more

times over the weekend. Then the unexpected and destructive spring ice storm

canceled the Saturday shows!  A quick decision was made to add another Sunday

show, and the roller coaster of excitement and devastation continued!  With the loss of

power at the school, and throughout our region, the Sunday shows were postponed. 

The upcoming Holy Week presented many scheduling conflicts but given the

circumstance and the commitment of the cast and crew, an executive decision was

made to host two performances this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Nearly all ticket

holders attended a show and the Drama Club shined once again!  Through

sponsorships, ticket and raffle sales, and donations, we exceeded our $10,000 goal to

cover this year’s expenses and allow a jump-start to funding the Club for next school

year! 

Thank you to the St. John’s Catholic School and All Saints Parish community for your

support of our Drama Club.  A tremendous effort by everyone involved will have a

lasting impact on our students and for the future of the St. John’s Drama Club.  

We are fortunate to have the support of our following business sponsors:  Restorations

Home Remodeling, LLC (Stage), Downeast Audio Video (Sound), Domino’s Pizza

Brunswick (Refreshments), Owen Haskell, Inc and Five County Credit Union (T-Shirt),

and Maine State Music Theater (Raffle).