Bishop Dunne Thespians to Perform in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Junior Heath Kuykendall would love to help at the 15th Annual Bishop Dunne 100 Dinner on October 22, 2015, because he had a great time volunteering there last year. But this year he has a conflict: he’ll be on stage on opening night at the White Rock Theater project, starring as Ichabod Crane in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
 
Three of his Falcon friends are also in the production: junior Jack Gibson is Brom Bones, “the town favorite,” while sophomore Robert Voigt and senior Benjamin Riley play Gunter, the “Headless horseman,” on different nights.
 
Practice for the play is two hours long, three days a week. The play will be performed five times. Jack is scheduled to play in all the performances, while Heath and Robert need understudies for the Friday night plays, since they are both in the Falcon Marching Band, and performing in a different arena on those nights.
 
All four students are in the Theater Club at Bishop Dunne, and working on “The Revue,” which will open in mid-November. Practice for that performance is two days a week, so combined with band practice and play practice, the boys are working at their craft over 20 hours a week.
 
But Heath says it’s totally worth it. On October 22, 2015, when the curtain rises, Ichabod Crane, the fictional storyteller—based on a real school teacher from New York in the 1800’s—will take the stage in Dallas to tell his scary ghost stories once again to a new generation.

What is the Legend? In a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane, an extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, competes with Abraham Van Brunt for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman, is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball, and "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head," though the story implies that the Horseman was really Brom in disguise.

The White Rock Theater Project offers more opportunities for children and teens to make theater and perform on stage. The first show will be their own adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It will be hosted by The Mix at White Rock Methodist Church (9125 Diceman Dr. Dallas, TX 75218.) The performances will be October 22, 23, and 24 with a special matinee on October 31 during the church's Fall Festival.

For information or to volunteer please contact Andra Hunter at andralaine@yahoo.com. For more information on Bishop Dunne Catholic School see the school's website: www.bdcs.org. To learn about the school's Theater program contact Nicholas Brandt at nbrandt@bdcs.org.