Student talent takes flight in upcoming production of ‘Mary Poppins’

Special to the Bulletin
 |  Brownwood Bulletin

Brownwood High School’s Theatre Department is premiering Disney’s “Mary Poppins” Friday, December 10, at the BHS Dorothy McIntosh Fine Arts Center Auditorium.

The production will showcase the work of Lilly Lee, a senior national qualifier in Costume Construction. Lee works under pressure to design and coordinate the costumes that are pivotal to the show’s production.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of time to get things rolling, so I took a wedding dress, recycled it, and made it look right for the time period,” Lee said.

Lee is one example of the many students honing new skills in this under the leadership of Brownwood theatre teachers Shannon Lee and Brittany Martin.

Shannon Lee described the process of putting a production together by using the metaphor of raising a child.

“Two weeks out, the play reaches a ‘teenager phase’ where you sometimes have to discipline it, and sometimes you have to show it grace,” Lee said. “You have to keep loving it and pushing through, and it will grow up into an ‘adult.’ Now, this play is starting to show us glimpses of maturity and real beauty.”

Lee is excited to see her students on stage and watch them experience rare opportunities such as flying over the stage.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our kids as actors to get to experience that because such a small portion of actors ever get to actually fly,” Lee said. “There’s only a handful of shows that even require it, so that’s really cool.”

“Mary Poppins” hits the stage this Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. with additional performances slated for Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at: https://bhs-lion-varsity-players.ticketleap.com/disneys-mary-poppins.