Hope Springs, a virtual cabaret featuring Anoka-Ramsey students, faculty and staff opens Feb. 19, 2021

February 09, 2021

Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s winter musical production, “Hope Springs” will be available to stream beginning Feb. 19, 2021 at arcctheatre.com/current-production.

“Hope Springs” is a cabaret of songs, poems and theatre pieces that explore the transition from the bleak mid-winter to the light and warmth of spring. Even in the darkest hour, the human capacity for hope is enormous.

This production features students, faculty, and staff as they perform and reflect on the confusion and loss of this past year and look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel.

When Lisa Weaver, the show’s director and Theatre Department faculty member began planning this year’s show, she used her experience from the fall production and other notable virtual performances for inspiration. Since each winter the production is a musical, Weaver embraced the cabaret-style that she has seen work well in a virtual format.
“When I thought about how to do that through zoom, the idea for a cabaret came to me. Zoom theatre just seems suited for cabaret,” said Weaver. “I was very inspired by the ‘Saturday Night Seder’ that a bunch of Hollywood and Broadway actors put together on Zoom last spring and also by a collage of dance, video and orchestra that Julliard set to Ravel's ‘Bolero’.”

“The fall play was hard, and strange to produce online, and it was the department's first attempt at Zoom theatre. But for that show, we had a full script with great characters and a wonderful story,” shared Weaver. “This time around, everything is being put together during the process, so we have had to be creative, flexible, and spontaneous. It can be difficult to find that creativity when you are sitting at home on the couch and rehearsing thorough the computer, in the winter. The support of my colleagues and the cast has been crucial.”

Student Performers
Sam Fish
Sam Babkin
Elizabeth Hernandez Soria
Emily Rosdahl
Caitlin Sparks
Beteab Tefera
Bailey Rosdahl
Samira Dabarani
Sylvia Cabak

Faculty/Staff Performers & Writers
Paige Riehl
Kate Kysar
Jess Shimek
Melody Hoffman

Student Writers
Sam Fish
Caitlin Sparks
Claire Stone
Jasmine Knapper
Diana Garcia
Bailey Rosdahl
Samira Dabarani

Faculty Production Team
Lisa Weaver
Peter Lerohl
Liz Kuivinen
Joel Salvo

Guest Artist Chorographer
Tinia Moulder

To learn more about the Theatre program at Anoka-Ramsey and the upcoming performance of "Hope Springs" visit AnokaRamsey.edu/theatre.