Jason Ford (front) and fellow cast members sing about “The Merry Old Land of Oz” during a rehearsal for Pittsford Musicals’ production of The Wizard of Oz, which starts this week. Photo by Donna MacKenzie
Teaching and theatre are two passions of Jason Ford and the Honeoye Falls-Lima graduate often combines the two to inspire his students.
Ford, who graduated in 2000 from HF-L, is part of the cast for the Pittsford Musicals production of The Wizard of Oz, which will start a two-weekend run on October 15 at Pittsford Mendon High School. He plays the guard at the gates of the Land of Oz and is also a member of the Winkies and in the jitterbug number.
“This is my second year with Pittsford Musicals,” said Ford in an interview during this past Sunday’s rehearsal. “I was in Pittsford Musicals’ Cabaret last year. I knew a lot of people who had been in previous Pittsford shows, but I hadn’t been able to before last year because of schedule conflicts. I wanted to be in Cabaret and I loved the experience. The story of Cabaret was an important one to tell.”
A SUNY Fredonia graduate with a major in childhood education, Ford currently teaches fourth grade at School 23 (Francis Parker) in the Rochester City School District. While it is his first year at the school, it is his 12th year in the Rochester City School District. Previously, he taught for one year at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District, just outside Albany.
While in high school at HF-L, Ford was in three shows: Cinderella, Our Town and Dames At Sea. He credits Pam Marsocci, then the artistic director for HF-L’s musicals, for fueling his passion for musical theatre.
“I am usually drawn by the story when I am involved in a show,” he said. “I love theater so much and all aspects of it.”
Ford now enjoys passing that love of the arts onto his students.
This is the fifth year that Ford has gotten his class into the Beyond the Curtain program at the Rochester Broadway Theatre League. The students study a musical for a half year or a full year. They read the literature behind the show, such as this year when they will be focusing on Wicked.
“They will read The Wizard of Oz, so my doing The Wizard of Oz with Pittsford Musicals this fall kind of ties everything together,” Ford said. “The kids are fully immersed in the experience as they will also skype with a cast member from Wicked and then meet the actor when the show comes to Rochester. They will also then attend a live evening performance. We get sponsors for the kids to see the show so it is no cost to the students. For some, it is their first time to see a live theater.”
Although he has acted in two other shows in the area: West Side Story with Webster Theatre guild and The Normal Heart with the JCC, Ford also enjoys directing.
Ford has directed children in three shows for the Rochester Summer Scholars program: Disney’s The Lion King, Disney’s Aladdin Junior and Disney’s Jungle Book Kids (all kid versions of those shows). At School 30 in the Rochester School District where he previously taught, Ford started the school’s first drama club with another teacher. There, he directed Willy Wonka Kids, Annie Junior, Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz. He is co-directing Seussical The Musical Kids at School 23.
“The best part of directing kids is sharing my passion for theater with them and bringing out their personality and perhaps an interest that is there in the kids for it,” Ford said enthusiastically. “Hopefully, I can inspire a love of the arts in them and help them use that in their schoolwork as well.”
Ford mentioned the welcoming and friendly atmosphere of Pittsford Musicals. Indeed, the group is much like a family with a Production Sunday dinner that includes not only cast and crew members but their families as well.
This year’s show has a number of family connections.
Laura Jean Diekmann, who has been in a number of Pittsford Musicals shows (most recently 2013’s Les Miserables as Fantine and 2012’s The Sound of Music as Maria) and two of her daughters, Lydia and Eliza, are in the show. Laura Jean is Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. They are Pittsford residents. There is also the Azzara family, Amy and Lisa, both of whom are Pittsford residents, and the Roes family: Elliott, Collette and Vicki, who are also Pittsford residents. Other Pittsford residents in The Wizard of Oz are Teddy Campagna (dad Joey was Valjean and older brother Jonas shared the role of Gavroche in Pittsford Musicals 2013 production of Les Mis), Tina Evans, Nick Kinney and J. Daniel Skelton. Other families in the show are Mike Harrington and his son, Jacob and Harrington’s sister, Amy Mitchell and her son Joey; Kelly Jordan and her daughter Ashley and Tricia and Heidi Zeller.
Pittsford Musicals’ production of The Wizard of Oz will be performed October 15 and 16 at 2 p.m., October 21 at 7:30 p.m. and October 22 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Pittsford Mendon High School, 472 Pittsford-Mendon Road (Route 64) in Pittsford. Tickets are $25 for adults and $23 for senior citizens and students. All tickets are for reserved seating. Call the box office 586-1500 or go online to the Pittsford Musicals website at www.pittsfordmusicals.org/tickets.
