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Time to make history April 12, 2008
It's minutes before the last dress rehearsal Thursday night at Craig Middle School. Like a well-oiled machine, the 19 cast and crewmembers of the Black Mountain Theatre's "The Great Diamond Swindle of 1872" dress and prepare the stage. The only distinguishing mark of a cast and a crewmember, however, is his or her dress, as everyone shares the load of keeping the production moving. "The cast and crew are one and the same," director Cindy Chotvacs said. As well as contributions to the script she added, which was taken from the original script, based on a story set in Moffat County, and revamped it, making it more palatable for today's audience. "Every single person in the show contributed to the script," Chotvacs said. They "took what was a serious narrative and added as much silliness as we could," she added, "still leaving as much of the core facts in tact." "The Great Diamond Swindle of 1872" continues at 2 and 7 p.m. today at Craig Middle School, 915 Yampa Ave., in the auditorium. Tickets are $5 at the door.
Randy Looper, from left, Zach Hendershott, Bill Ronis and Kurt Ashley practice a scene Thursday during a dress rehearsal.
Jan Rinker watches the script for her queue to turn on the flood lights on stage.
Katie Johnson, with Katie's Costumes, plays Jack Rabbit Johnson, a narrator for the play.
Some of the props backstage wait to be used during rehearsal.
Zach Hendershott, left, and Dave Morris warm up before rehearsal Thursday night.
