‘Anastasia’: a journey toward finding home, love and family

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The young thespians of the Summer Musical Theatre Camp will be showing off their skills in “Anastasia,” opening Thursday, Aug. 7 and running through Saturday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m.

This year, Director Penelope Haskew, wanted to switch up the style of the show, she said when asked why she chose this particular musical. “This is more serious than ‘Guys and Dolls’ or ‘Xanadu’ and the kids have been honing their skills, so I felt like they were ready for different challenges. It’s also been a favorite in my family since my kids were little and I hoped they’d be able to be part of it.”

Haskew’s eldest daughter Chiara Power has directed the last four summer theatre camp musicals, but this summer she is prepping a show for the Victoria Fringe Fest in Victoria BC. The performance opens Aug. 22, and although the Camp misses her, Haskew says, “it’s exciting for one of our alums to be out in the world doing what she loves for a bigger audience!”

Alison Power, Haskew’s youngest daugter, is doing a great job as Haskew’s assistant director, she said.

Those participating in the three week day camp this year ranges in age from eight to 15.

The musical is based on the animated movie “Anastasia” and is a heartwarming and heart-wrenching dive into one of history’s biggest unanswered questions: what happened to Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov? In the musical, Anya, an amnesiac orphan, is stranded in what was once the Russian capital, St. Petersburg. She is on a quest to rediscover her past, which she believes lies in Paris. A dashing conman, Dmitry, joins her journey, along with ex-aristocrat, Vlad Popov. Both want to use Anya to bamboozle the only remaining Romanov, Dowager Empress Marie, into believing that Anya is the lost Anastasia. She escapes to Paris with a determined Soviet officer on their heels. “Anastasia” explores one determined girl’s journey to find home, love, and family as she discovers who she was and embraces who she is meant to be.

Although the story and movie are fairly well known, Haskew says she wasn’t sure how familiar the kids would be with it. “On the first day of camp, when we did our casting auditions, I could see that they had really done their homework and they were very ready to jump in. It made casting extremely difficult!”

One of the camp’s biggest dance numbers, “Land of Yesterday,” and is, Haskew said, one of her favorites.

“Lilleigh Hasty, who plays Lily, does such a great job leading the song and throwing in fun tricks, too. The rest of the cast are filling in all sorts of energetic moves that had us gasping with amazement in rehearsal. “

Another of Haskew’s favorites is “Crowd of Thousands.” The characters Dmitry (Owen Wight) and Anya (Olive Uri) are reminiscing about the past. “I find the combination of their beautiful harmonizing and the delicate movements of the cast to be quite lovely and touching,” Haskew explains.

To help with the music this year is Music Director Manon Gimlett. She has been helping the young thespians fine-tune their singing and teaching them about technique and music theory. “Today, [July 29] she played a fun game with the cast in which they had to switch up their emotions again and again as they sang, depending on what flash card she held up. It was hilarious to see them making lightning quick changes.”

Besides the music, “Anastasia” is a performance where audience can delve in to and enjoy the storytelling of the cast, Haskew said, and “they will be impressed with the finesse of the tech crew who is being supervised by my long-time partner in theatre, Mary Hurley and joined by Sidney Herda (who grew up in the program and is now on staff at SJCT) and Zachary Schatzberg who came on board this summer for the first time with us here. They will see some familiar faces onstage if they came to see ‘Freaky Friday’, ‘Frankie Builds Androids’ or ‘Gladis Baker Gladiator’!”

There is a large cast and crew in this theatre camp, which could cause challenges. Haskew said that because this group of more experienced actors and tech are so enthusiastic and ready to lock in and work hard it never feels like too many. “In fact, pretty much all the actors are playing multiple roles because they have so much ability and focus that we keep throwing them into more scenes! Thank goodness, our Costumer Callie McKay and assistant Mel Rosenberg have been very accommodating as we ask for so many extra costume pieces!”

Tickets are $12 per adult, $7 per student and $5 student rush at the door.

The entire cast is as follows:

Amar Khokha Kaku — Alexi and others

Amelia Smith — Mira and others

Ang Pink Santora — Dunya and others

Arie Nichols — Russian and others

Aurelia Goodremont — The Dowager Empress

Avaline Anderson — Marfa and others

Azariah Freese — Marketeer and others

Bailey Barker — Young Anastasia and others

Chloe Jones — Mikhail and others

Daniel DeYoung — Marketeer and others

Ella Chevalier — Marketeer and others

Hazel Wight — Galina and others

Jackson Widing — Policeman 1 and others

Jodie Wehner — Luda and others

Jonah Visciglia — Young Dmitry and others

Keegan Heckle — Tsar Nicholas II

Kelly Schoultz — Olga Nikolaevna and others

Kyra Wilson — Announcer and others

Leven Bouwman — Anastasia at 17y/o and others

Liam DeYoung — Vlad Popov

Lilleigh Hasty — Lily

Mackenzie Barker — Tatiana Nikolaevna and others

Matisse Bryant — Countess Ipolitov and others

Nancy Wehner — Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna and others

Nicha Schulte — Maria Nikolaevna and others

Olive Uri — Anya

Owen Wight — Dmitry

Perrin Davis — Alexei Nikolaevitch and others

Seqoia Bair — Sasha and others

Tristan Rummel — Count Leopold and others

Vanessa Prieto Lopez — Paulina and others

Violet Dolsen-Malone — Gleb Vaganov

Violet Stewart — Policeman 2 and others

Zoe Schatzberg — Nikola and others

Tech Crew

Gretchen Jack

Lumin Bouwman

Jessie Valencia

Lucie Kusner

Production Team

Penelope Haskew – Director

Alison Power – Assistant Director

Manon Gimlett – Music Director

Mary Hurley – Tech Supervisor

Callie McKay – Costumer

Zachary Schatzberg – Tech Lead

Sidney Herda – Tech Support

Mel Rosenberg – Costume Support

Memes Bouwman – Scenic/Prop help