The yearly musical: a tradition long anticipated by the many students at Saint Joseph high school. A long standing pride that never seems to disappoint, took a major blow after this year’s unprecedented effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. That didn’t stop the tactful Ms. Sarah Beason, as she worked vigorously to provide the students and school, a performance far better than the circumstances would have allowed. 

Sarah Beason, one of our two amazing directors, was homeschooled from Kindergarten to 12th grade, where she then continued on to attend a liberal arts college. She now holds BA degrees in Theatre Arts and Vocal Performance. As her finely polished resume explains, Sarah talks about her many adventures in the performance world after graduating from college. “Since graduation, I’ve been working mostly in the Midwest, with a few outliers.”, and continues to explain her many job experiences of working in warm and cold weather, as well as in Amish countries stating that it truly helped her realize how wide her possibilities of work are. 

Sarah continues to explain her interest in playing character roles, with some notable favorites being Lily St. Regis in Annie. Sarah prides herself in her work, showing lots of happiness in what she’s accomplished in her roles, both big and small. She mentions her unique ability of being able to sing the “Queen of the Night aria” but due to the lack of demand for such talents, she has learned to adapt to many other performance styles. Though she is extremely humble, saying “I might not be the absolute best at everything right out of the gate, but I promise I will take it home that night and drill it until I have it.”

Sh has the Gallup strengths of “Strategic, Restorative, Relator, Intellection, Communication, and Determination.” She continues on to explain her introspective and outgoing personality, as well as her work ethic that pushes her to overcome any obstacle that comes in her way. On the very first day of the Godspell production, an onstage set piece was broken during the live show and Sarah had to think fast in order to ensure that the show stayed on track. She quickly found two construction worker characters to walk on stage and fix the set piece almost as if it were planned. The crowd loved it, and the cast really appreciated her quick thinking, as she improved upon a dire situation and made it a million times better. 

A woman of many talents, she is dearly beloved by the Saint Joe community most because of her work in the yearly musicals. Though this year, there was no guarantee that there would be a show, Sarah took to the drawing board to devise a plan that would work among the many regulations. Relying on a backup plan, Sarah started brainstorming ways to incorporate social distancing and mask regulations into the flexible Godspell production. She explains that the point of “the round”, which is having the audience surround the stage, is that “performing in the round allows for more spread-out seating and the audience to feel a part of the show and in this case, our concept was that the show was that Jesus is available to anyone at any time.” 

She provided the audience with a beautiful story of a beautiful city, by constructing plexiglass “buildings” where an actor would be able to enter and sing without a mask and allow for a safe and unique focus on the actors. More thought and precise planning went into this production than anyone of us could have imagined, but Sarah made it happen. 

Through the pandemic she looked forward to being able to work on the stage again, and being able to work with her students in the musical production. Though nothing was certain, Sarah persevered and continues to love the adversity that she faces. Sarah Beason’s job is her free time. She has made her passion and hobby of music and theatre into a job, making her life one wild and exciting adventure.