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BETHLEHEM, PA–The Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts (Charter Arts) Theatre Department, in collaboration with the Charter Arts Music Department, continues its fall season with the world premiere production of Ladies, How Dare You!, a musical comedy/farce written by Liv Cummins and Rob Hartmann with music by Rob Hartmann, November 8-10, 2024.
The story is set in 1913 amidst the Womens’ Suffrage Movement with themes and sentiments that will resonate with contemporary audiences, especially during the current political landscape. This beautifully crafted story is centered around two unlikely traveling companions, wealthy socialite Lucretia Kingsley and her hired hatmaker, immigrant Dorothy Jones, who must make it to the Suffrage Parade in Washington D.C. against all odds. The heart of the piece lies in the relationships they develop with the people in the small town where their carriage breaks down. As they form connections and invest in one another’s lives, they begin to question their preconceived notions of what it means to be a woman, what it means to be an American, and what it means to build community. All are affected and eventually inspired to find a new path forward, bravely paving the way for change.
With direction by the school’s Artistic Director of Theatre, Kelly Minner-Bickert, and music direction by the Artistic Director of Vocal Music, Erica Dickson, this production of Ladies, How Dare You!, will move audiences with its rollicking ragtime Americana-flavored score, old-fashioned vaudevillian hijinks, disguises, and Shakespearean mistaken identities as it explores themes of gender roles, anti-immigrant sentiments, and urban and rural clashes.
Minner-Bickert shares, “Audiences will be blown away by the talent of our young artists who have courageously taken on these characters for which there is no blueprint. Watching our kids rise to the challenge of such a deep and layered new work has been exhilarating. With powerful and poignant music and lyrics, I’m certain audiences will leave feeling moved and thoroughly impressed.”
Liv Cummins says, “Ladies, How Dare You! tells the personal story of one woman, rather than trying to address the struggles and injustices experienced by so many from that time. Offering new themes to the group of current historical musicals which explore cultural shifts, Ladies How Dare You! elucidates the intersectionality between antisemitic racism and classism through a Polish, Jewish immigrant’s eyes, as well as the urban and rural divide so prevalent in our country today. The musical reveals what it is like to be “the other” in this country, how so many immigrants, the economically challenged, and those on the fringes of society experience a need to code switch just to get by on a day-to-day basis. Ladies will expand theater audiences for the stories of women and others who battled and continue to battle cultural forces for social change.”
This is the second time that the school’s theatre department has produced a Cummins/Hartmann musical collaboration, having been the first high school to produce the team’s musical fantasy, Vanishing Point in 2019. Minner-Bickert adds: “Rob Hartmann came to see that production and was incredibly impressed with the talent of our students and the direction of the show.” She adds, “When the two felt that Ladies How Dare You was ready for an audience, they reached out to us again with the offer to premiere their new project. We were thrilled and honored.”
Ladies, How Dare You! Performances: November 8 & 9 at 7 PM, November 10 at 2 PM. Tickets are $7-$12 and can be purchased in advance at CharterArts.org. Charter Arts is located at 321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem.
ABOUT THE CHARTER ARTS THEATRE DEPARTMENT:
The Charter Arts Theatre Department offers a pre-professional training program for high school-aged performers. The goal is to provide students with the skills they will need to move on to competitive college programs as well as professional theatre experiences.
Classes are designed to encourage students to create imaginative and compelling characters, to regard their voices and bodies as creative instruments, to expose them to theatrical literature and to instill in them a sense of respect and professionalism for the art form that will stay with them throughout their lives.
ABOUT THE CHARTER ARTS MUSIC DEPARTMENT:
Instrumental Music and Vocal Music are two distinct departments at Charter Arts. However, some of the courses are required of both majors while others are department-specific. Both departments offer a rigorous music education taught by award-winning and accomplished faculty.
The vocal music curriculum includes tracks in classical art song, musical theatre, and pop/contemporary that allow students to focus and hone their skills with one-on-one instruction by professional voice specialists. In addition, the Singer/Songwriter track includes Songwriting, Music Production and Contemporary Music Performance Practices.
The instrumental music curriculum includes classes in classical, jazz, and contemporary music styles while performing in large ensembles that include Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble and Contemporary Music Ensemble as well as small ensembles that include strings, guitar and percussion. Students enjoy individual and small setting technique classes with a music faculty member who specializes in their instrument. These specialists include bass (electric and upright), brass, guitar, percussion, piano, strings, and woodwinds.
ABOUT THE LEHIGH VALLEY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS (Charter Arts):
Charter Arts is an audition-based public charter school that provides a comprehensive curriculum for high school students, grades 9-12, who have a dedicated passion for the creative or performing arts. Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, instrumental music, literary arts, production arts (film & technical theatre), theatre, visual arts, or vocal music.
Charter Arts’ rigorous curriculum fosters both academic and artistic excellence for its students. The school’s impressive Future Ready PA Index ranking, Advanced Placement (AP) exam statistics, Keystone Exam statistics, SAT scores, prestigious artistic accolades, and graduation rate, are testaments to the outstanding education that Charter Arts provides.
Recently, Charter Arts was ranked #1 Best Charter High School in PA and #1 Best Public High School Teachers in PA on Niche’s 2025 Best Schools in America Rankings. In addition, Charter Arts was one of only four Lehigh Valley schools to be ranked in the Top 100 Public High Schools in PA on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Schools in America.
For more information, visit www.CharterArts.org.
Information & Image Provided By:
Ann Gillette
Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts
321 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
www.CharterArts.org
