Contact: Mary Pollitz

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Summer Scholars Onstage campers at Mississippi State are preparing to perform the original musical “Curses!” on July 5-6 on McComas Hall's main stage.

The show, free and open to the public, is Friday [July 5] at 7 p.m. and Saturday [July 6] at 1 p.m.

The three-act musical includes dancing, singing, acting and technical talents of 42 middle and high school students from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia.

Held prior to the current theatrical production camp, the writer’s camp hosted 11 campers who studied scriptwriting and musical composition tracks.

The musical spans centuries, detailing how a king’s medieval curse leads to pandemonium from Illinois to outer space. “Curses!” is the 40th production for the long-running camp, directed by Professor Emeritus Joe Ray Underwood, who retired from the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Foundations. The 25-member staff of musicians, drama teachers, counselors, dance instructors, technicians and college volunteers lead the students.

The program, sponsored by MSU's Office of Pre-College Opportunity and Programs, received grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the 4-County Education Fund.

For more about Summer Scholars Onstage, visit https://www.summerscholarsonstage.msstate.edu/.