Southern Nebraska Register
S.T.A.G.E.
In addition to the musical, audiences may also enjoy an art show being held in conjunction with “The Custodian of Art.”
Tickets are now on sale for the S.T.A.G.E. student theatre winter original musical production, “The Custodian of Art.” Four performances will be held Jan. 2-5, 2025. The production will be held at St. Teresa’s Kaczmarek Hall, 36th and Randolph streets in Lincoln.
Written and directed by S.T.A.G.E. founder, Lee Ann Hotovy, along with her musical team of Felicity Suelter and Joie Meador, “The Custodian of Art” will explore the purpose and meaning of art.
“In 1999, St. John Paul II wrote a letter to artists throughout the world,” Hotovy said. “Much of what we examine in this new S.T.A.G.E. production is based on the late pope’s writing, as well as works by other contemporary writers on the topic of truth, goodness, and beauty.”
Set in an art gallery, the art director and curator plan for a new exhibit called “A Void.” The new work arrives but leaves the patrons and gallery owners confused. Something is missing in the new work, and through the aid of the other paintings, which come to life, the discovery of the purpose of art is revealed. Truth, goodness, and beauty win, as “A Void” becomes “A Voice” for something that lifts the Spirit.
St. John Paul II said an artist’s vocation is beauty, which carries a certain obligation. He wrote, “Those who perceive in themselves this kind of divine spark which is the artistic vocation – as poet, writer, sculptor, architect, musician, actor and so on – feel at the same time the obligation not to waste this talent but to develop it, in order to put it at the service of their neighbor and of humanity as a whole.”
“The Custodian of Art” features students ages 9 to 15, performing original songs and dances. The set includes large depictions of famous paintings recreated by Hotovy and her daughter, Maria Pate.
In addition to the musical, audiences may also enjoy an art show being held in conjunction with “The Custodian of Art.”
S.T.A.G.E. child participants, as well as local adult artists, will display their works in Kaczmarek Hall for the purpose of living out St. John Paul II’s calls to artists. Works will be available for sale to help support S.T.A.G.E. and the arts.
“We are all custodians of art,” said Hotovy, “And in that we have a responsibility to uplift the human spirit to the Creator of all things!”
Hotovy founded S.T.A.G.E. (Student Theater and Godly Evangelization) in 1999, providing a creative outlet for children of all ages. Now celebrating 25 years of production, the troupe typically produces three original shows each year, with a larger production during the summer, involving children from Lincoln and the surrounding rural areas.
Tickets for “The Custodian of Art” are available online at stage4kids.com. Limited walk-in seating will also be available at the door prior to each performance, however, reserved online seating is recommended. “The Custodian of Art” will be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 2-4, and at 2 p.m. Jan. 5. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students ages 4-18 years. Children under 3 years old are free, provided they sit on a lap.
