Souza's “Godspell:” The small miracle at the Palaia Vineyard - Scholarship production: nearly 300 people at shows on Thursday and Friday nights

Highland Mills - This past weekend at the Palaia Vineyard in Highland Mills, a small miracle occurred. No, no one changed water into wine exactly. But nearly 1,000 enthusiastic theatergoers attended the four performances of the latest Souza Scholarship production, “Godspell.” Speaking in the warm afterglow of Souza’s most successful show since ‘Seussical’ in 2005, chairman Bob Curtis described the show, from beginning to end, as miraculous. “The conception of Souza’s ‘Godspell’ began with Committee member Maureen Burt, who had the idea to do one more show with ‘her kids’ before a number of them who had just graduated M-W High School went off to college,” Curtis said. Burt thought of doing “Godspell” as a summer show, perhaps in a winery. So she talked up the idea, it was suggested as a possible Souza fund raiser, and both she and Curtis thought the Palaia Vineyard in Highland Mills would make a perfect outdoor venue. And lo and behold, winery owners Jan and Joe Palaggi were both “theater people,” they had a nearly completed outdoor stage, and had been looking for shows that they could put on during summers at the vineyard. So one evening, the principals got together over a bottle of wine - and now, just a few months later, Souza’s “Godspell” is biblical history - well maybe not biblical, but almost. Thursday’s opening and Friday night were the best-attended performances, with nearly 300 people at each show. On each of the other two nights, around 200 people attended. During the Saturday night performance, after the covered stage and audience tent were pelted with torrential rain, a local power outage forced the suspension of the show in the middle of Act I. As a result, a 2 p.m. Sunday performance was added for those who missed the rest of that show. But despite that setback, Souza Treasurer Ronnee MacDonald said: “With the success of ‘Godspell,’ I can safely say that we have covered all our scholarships this year and will have a little margin to plan for awards in the next school year. We can be very optimistic that this new venture was successful in helping us to continue our ability to award scholarships in the future.” While final exact figures are not available, the Souza Scholarship will likely realize several thousand dollars from this venture. Since its inception, the scholarship fund has awarded more than $200,000 to deserving students from this district in grades six through twelve. In a small way, these scholarships serve as a living reminder of Robert W. Souza, a man who unselfishly gave so much to the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District community. His passing in 1980 prompted the creation of the Souza Scholarship Fund in memory of this very special man. Curtis offered these parting words this production: “I just want to thank all the people involved in putting on this show - our most talented cast, Jan and Joe Palaggi for their extraordinary generosity in loaning us their vineyard; Lenny Klopchin for acting as assistant director and member of the band; Chris Ehlers and Steven Wing for coordinating the music and vocals; Anthony Ravinsky for set design, construction and tech coordination; the Pascullo and MacDonald families and Sally Stanton for handling ticket sales; and director Maureen Burt for absolutely everything. She was truly amazing - a real miracle worker!” Donations may be made to The Souza Scholarship, P.O. Box 158, Highland Mills, NY 10930.