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Greenbelt-Centric Nutcracker Celebrates Town and Tchaikovsky

  • by Amy Hansen

 

Young Snowflakes enter stage left. These were Lana Shapiro, Brooklyn Scott and Eleanor Colarco
Young Snowflakes enter stage left. These were Lana Shapiro, Brooklyn Scott and Eleanor Colarco

More than 250 people crowded into the Community Center’s gym on December 13 to attend Greenbelt’s version of the Nutcracker. Called The New Deal Nut: A Greenbelt Nutcracker, the dance production was the culmination of the city’s dance classes, some of which started work on the project in August.

“We have students from ages 5 to 15,” said Angella Foster, director of the studio. Inspired by the Nutcracker, Foster wrote the production to include Greenbelt, past and present. The show opens in Greenbelt in the late 1930s with the kids attending a holiday party. As Clara walks home, the Rats of Roosevelt appear and her nutcracker comes to life. A sudden snowstorm transports the cast into Greenbelt’s future.

In the future, Clara meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, Chef Lou’s Chocolatiers, New Deal Coffee Clutchers, Beijing Fortune Cookies, the Pollinators and the Greenbelt Theater Popcorn Maniacs.

 

 

Pollinators, front row--Brooklyn Scott, Eleanor Colarco, Lana Shapiro, Sophia Kozy Second Row--Claire McBride, Layla Smith, Mariella McElhenny, Mila Shapiro, Aleasa Heath and Shiloh Kozy, Photo by Beverly Palau
Foreground: a light-brown-skinned woman, with long dark hair, glasses, a black floral shirt and red pants. She raises both hands, fingers splayed. Her mouth is open and eyes wide in an expression of eagerness. Behind her, a blond, light peach skinned woman in a white blouse and black pants stands next to a projector screen, with a neutral posture and expression. The image on screen begins, "School Performance Plan: School Performance in PGCPS".

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