A new troupe will debut Sept. 26-27 as the Basilica Theatre Company will perform for the first time together at the Basilica of St. Mary Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria.
The company’s founder and director Clare Anderson was motivated to start the group because of her love of theater. The English teacher at Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores reached out to the basilica to support the endeavor and provide the stage.
Together Anderson and her team sent out a call for auditions, met with performers and developed the show. For Anderson, the show is not just about showing off talent, it has a higher purpose.
“Beautiful lifts us up to God,” said Anderson. “Laughter and beautiful things are ways we can get closer to God as a community. I think there are a lot of things happening in the world today that inspire fear. We are putting something together that is meant to make you laugh, build community and remind us of the end goals.”
Her inspiration to counter fear, with the arts, is in lockstep with her school’s patron, St. John Paul II. During the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II, the young Karol Wojtyła participated in an underground theater group in Kraków.
The playwright once said, “Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.”
The company’s August auditions drew a variety of talented people striving to do just that. Anderson and her team have been hard at work taking the acts from the auditions and working with the 18 performers to create a show. Along the way she has been impressed with the performers and their willingness to include others in their original acts.
“We had someone who brought us her piano arrangement of Aerosmith who is now working with someone with a guitar,” said Anderson. “It was a cool moment of someone being flexible.”
The variety show will feature juggling, Scottish dance, numerous music styles including original compositions, and family friendly comedy skits.
Kassock is a freelancer in Fredericksburg.
Get tickets
Performances are Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 3 p.m. Go to stmaryoldtown.org/talent-extravaganza.
