A play with a purpose: Snow White production a benefit for OHSU research

By Holly Farris and Lindsay Elmore
Silverton High Sschool students

Silverton High School senior Jessica Vance is directing her first play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for two reasons.

The first is because she loves theater and acting.

The second is because she wants to raise money to donate to the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.

“The play just puts two things together that are very close to my heart,” Vance said, adding she has had several family members die of breast cancer.

Directing the play is a senior project for both Vance and Mariah Thixton. Both teens have dedicated hours to the project from contacting OHSU to auditioning actors and directing rehearsals.

Vance said she chose to direct the play because “I am a hands-on kind of person and I love to create.”

Vance said her hope is that they raise enough money to go towards finding a cure for breast cancer.
Thixton agrees.

“I’ve been doing theater since I was a really little girl and I absolutely love it, so when Jessica first asked me to do this I was like ‘Oh yes, of course, its theater I have to’,” Thixton said. “And then she told me what it was for and I was like ‘Oh now I have to do it even more.’ ”

Thixton said the actors include high school and middle school students. She hopes the younger students gain an appreciation for theater and have a fun experience at the high school.

Danny Little plays the Huntsman; Melly Kazel is Rosamund; Julian Bliss, Queen Hecate and Noah Clemmings, Prince Robert.

Kazel said she decided to be in the play because she loves theater and thought being it would be a great acting experience.

The students said the best part of the production is that while having fun they are also doing something to make a difference by raising money for breast cancer research.