Many local theater companies use the Kelsey Theatre at Mercer to stage their shows. Most recently the space hosted The Sound of Music featuring Kristen VonWachenfeldt as Maria Rainer and Jeff Price as Captain Georg von Trapp from Pierrot Productions which is based in Pennington, New Jersey.
The production was directed by Kat Ross Kline, the Resident Director and Artistic Director for Pierrot Productions who is also on the Theater Advisory Board for the college.
Beginning as a choreographer in 2006, Kline has been working at Kelsey Theatre for over a decade. She also works full time as director and choreographer for the Sharpe Family Singers. The Sound of Music was her ninth show at Kelsey.
Her vision for the show was to have it to focus on the characters’ personalities, struggles, and relationships rather than the wow factors of the sets.
Kline stated, “I wanted it to be about the truth of these characters…and because we have so many political issues going on today, we worked very hard to make sure that these characters were really developed.”
To get the perfect cast, Kline spent about three weeks on the audition process, narrowing down over 200 prospects to the final 37 cast members.
Kline said, “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle: this person is great standalone, but with this person do they match this person?…Who is going to fit together?”
One person Klien put faith in to hold all the pieces together was Kristen VonWachenfeldt who played Maria.
By day VonWachenfeldt works at Princeton Montessori School as their Events & Services Coordinator. She also holds a degree in Theater from Elon University and has starred in local productions of Marry Poppins, Oklahoma, and The Secret Garden.
VonWachenfeldt described her view of Maria saying, “She really does have a character arc. She starts as this childlike, impulsive girl who doesn’t really feel at home…trying to find her place…[Maria] grows to love these children first, then the Captain, and becomes a wife and a mother.”
The frustrated Captain, played by Jeff Price of West Trenton, comes off as a disciplined leader in the beginning of the musical. However, as he falls for Maria, his heart reopens, returning to the loving father figure his children longed for.
Price says, “People get introduced to [Captain Von Trapp’s] life that then start to change his feelings and direction…Eventually, he comes pretty much where he’s loved, he’s lost, and then he’s loved again.”
After the performance on Thursday, September 19, VonWachenfeldt and Price, along with the rest of the cast, received a well-deserved standing ovation. The show concluded its run on September 22.
