East Marion and West Marion high schools are coming together Friday for a musical production featuring the choirs of both schools. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Army National Guard Recruiting Building. The joint performance is a way to bring the community together and to raise funds for both schools' performing arts department.
"This collaboration will unite the community," Assistant Performing Arts Director Sarah Holder said. "We are Marion County at the end of the day. It was Mr.(Gary) McCullum's idea to include everyone, and the profits will be split down the middle between the two schools. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door."
There will be performances by West Marion Show Choir "New Era," West Marion Elementary Show Choir "Allegro!," East Marion Gospel Choir, East Marion Show Choir "Rebirth" and Show Choir Junior, East Marion Treble Makers, East Marion Creative Dance and East Marion Speech and Debate.
The students from both schools are excited about the opportunity to come together for a show, and they are practicing hard on some beautiful and exciting selections to showcase to the community.
"Allegro!" is made up of students in grades fourth through sixth at West Marion Elementary. They are led by Melanie Russell, a library assistant at the school. This is the first year the choir has been in existence, and they will perform "Let Me Tell You About My Jesus" and "Fight Song."
"New Era" is under the direction of Jon Bullock, and they will dance and sing to "Beat It," "Awake and Alive/Charge Me Up," "I Saw a Child," and "Praise the Lord." They will also have several solos, such as "Stars" from Les Miserables performed by junior Gabe Foster.
"I am kind of nervous but also pretty excited," Foster said. "I'm mostly a singer, but my dancing is improving. This is my first year in Show Choir."
Sophomore Skyla Jones and freshman Drake Sumrall are dancing a duet to "New Rules."
"Mr. (Gary) McCullum invited Mr. Bullock to do this. I was a little nervous at first, but I'm excited to show off," Jones said. "They have so many groups, and we only have one."
Sumrall, who is in his second year of Show Choir, is looking forward to a new opportunity.
"I'm a bit nervous, but I'm also excited. I think we'll do at least decent," Sumrall said. "It's different to perform with East Marion. We've never been in a performance with them."
New Era performs with equal amounts of singing and dancing, and it can be tough to do both.
"I'm excited," sophomore Kadence Jones said. "The last thing we were going to do got cancelled because everyone was sick with the flu. It's fun. It's a lot to sing and dance all at once."
The members of the group know practice makes them better.
"With more practice, we're going to get even better," junior Chloe Miller said. "But we will do really well for our first show of the season."
The East Marion groups will be performing multiple selections depending on the group. They will be doing beautiful renditions of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and "Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory."
"I'm excited because it could potentially bring us together as a community instead of us being separated," senior Kailey Allen said.
That idea was echoed by senior Mariah Dawkins, who received a $10,000 scholarship from William Carey University, on Friday.
"The event will be good. It'll let people know that East and West aren't against each other," she said.
Her sister, Sariah Dawkins, a sophomore, was surprised she ended up in the Treble Makers her first year in the choir.
"I'm very excited about Friday night because it's kind of like something new for me," Sariah said. "The only time I've sung was at church when I was younger. It's wonderful to sing with all of these beautiful voices. God gave us this gift. I was shocked I made the Treble Makers because I forgot the lyrics when I auditioned."
Everyone involved encourages the community to come out and see these two schools perform together.
"I feel like it's going to be a history changing event," Chyna Wells, a sophomore, said. "We've never done anything chorally with West, and I think it will be a different event for everyone in the county."
