The Arizona Daily Star had a terrific article on the Marana Community Music Theater and their performance this Friday of The Wizard of Oz, as well as how the arts are thriving in Marana.
Nearly 70 cast members, when you include the full orchestra, have spent weeks this summer getting ready for a one-night-only performance on Friday, July 27.
For the past six weeks, they have filled one of the conference rooms of the Marana Senior Center next to Ora Mae Harn Park two nights a week. For several hours on those nights, they follow the direction of MCMT founders Sarah Ross and Heidi Barker to prepare for that performance.
But this is about more than a night at the theater…
“If this is something that brings pleasure and gets people involved because you’re going to have young and old and every ethnic group and every neighborhood involved, we invest in our people,” said Mayor Ed Honea.
The town places artwork by high school students and area artists in its parks. One of the most ambitious recently was steel statues of a deer family designed by Tucson artist Trevor O’Toole and crafted by welding students from Marana High School that was installed on Tangerine Road as a centerpiece of the upcoming Tangerine Sky Park. It also hosts school choirs for performances at town events, from Founders Day to the Fourth of July.
