Arts & Entertainment Community Education

Peninsula High teacher balances art and science

Posted on October 29th, 2024 By: Marsha Hart

Peninsula High school science teacher by day, performing artist in her off time, Ashley Ortenzo is one of dozens who will “fling joy” in the Puget Sound Midwinter Revels show in December.

Ortenzo has been a science teacher for 24 years and lives in Gig Harbor, but it’s her first year at Peninsula High School. She has maintained a balance between teaching and performing over the years, landing roles in a variety of community theater productions.

Midwinter Revels

Her devotion to The Puget Sound Midwinter Revels has endured since her first audition in 2006, save for a few years off for the birth of her children or the occasional family trip.

Ashley Ortenzo has been a science teacher for more than 20 years, but it’s her first year teaching science at Peninsula High School. In addition to teaching, she has a passion for theater. This will be her 15th season as a revel in the Puget Sound Midwinter Revels production at the Rialto Theater in Tacoma. In this photo, she sings in the chorus during the English Victorian production in 2010. Photo courtesy of Ashley Ortenzo

The annual production is a mixture of story, poetry, dance, and song, with some audience participation. Performances are at the Rialto Theater in Tacoma.

The Midwinter Revels bills itself as “a fully-staged theatrical production for all ages that intentionally blends professionals and amateurs, children and adults, audience and players, high art and folk idiom.”

The Tacoma Midwinter Revels show is one of nine around the country at the same time. One of the final songs at each show is “Dona Nobis Pacem,” which means “Grant Us Peace.” The chorus and audience members sing the verses in a round.

The Puget Sound Revels began in 1992, with the first Christmas Revels production at the Rialto in 1994. In 2022, the organization changed the name of the production to The Midwinter Revels.

‘My therapist made me do it’

Ortenzo’s story of how she was introduced to the annual seasonal show is unlike that of other actors, she said.

“My joke is that my therapist made me do it,” she said. “Back in the day, my therapist at that time had gone to see a show. (She) came to our next session and said the show made her think of me because I had done musical theater in college. She handed me the program from the show, and said: ‘I think you should check this out.’ And I did.”

Ortenzo said Midwinter Revels auditions are more low-key than typical community theater try-outs. You just sing something you want to sing, show that you can learn things on the fly, and perform with the group.

When she auditioned for the first time 18 years ago, she didn’t realize she was becoming part of a community.

“The group of people that are involved in putting on the show are fantastic people to work with, and we really do build a village. By the time we get to putting up the show in December, you feel like these are the folks who have lived in your neighborhood your whole life,” she said. “The Revels is really unique, and special.”

A cultural experience

Ortenzo said the Midwinter Revels is an ensemble, with many people playing different roles. Professional actors come in for any important roles. About 25 to 30 adults and around a dozen children, including her 8-year-old daughter Alessandra, comprise the cast.

Ashley Ortenzo and her daughter, Alessandra, performed in the Puget Sound Midwinter Revels Mexico show in 2022. The Midwinter Revels production casts 25 to 30 adults and about a dozen children each year. Photo courtesy of Ashley Ortenzo

Each year the Midwinter Revels show is a mixture of old traditional songs and new ones from a different culture, Ortenzo said. Productions in the past focused on different European cultures. More recently, the show has expanded to include more diverse cultures, like Mexico and 1930s Appalachia.

Authenticity — a commitment to accurately telling the stories and replicating the dances, languages, and traditions of each culture — provides the audience with a special glimpse at places they may never see anywhere else, she said. Ortenzo said part of the fun is working with the production team, which makes sure that each show is as authentic as possible.

Her favorite performance so far was in 2007, when the cast sang in 13 languages for an Eastern European show.

“I love the dancing that we got to do in that show, and we told some fun stories,” she said. “I played a fun witchy character called the Wood Woman.”

Ashley Ortenzo, left, was part of the bell ringers chorus during the 2023 production of Puget Sound Midwinter Revels’ Medieval England show. Photo courtesy of Ashley Ortenzo

This year’s Midwinter Revels

This year, she is excited to help tell the story of Seneca Village, a community founded by black property owners who were forced out by the city of New York in the early 1800s to create Central Park. Archeologists rediscovered the town in 2011.

“I’m super excited about this year’s show,” Ortenzo said. “I think one of the honest critiques of Revels is that we have been very European focused for a very long time, so in the last four or five years, Revels has gotten more interested in telling more diverse stories, and bringing in a more diverse audience.”

Tickets for the Seneca Village show are available starting Nov. 1.

Shows are at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14, 2 p.m. Dec. 15, 7 p.m. Dec. 17 and 7 p.m. Dec. 18. The Rialto Theater is at 310 S. 9^th Street, Tacoma, WA 98402. For tickets, visit pugetsoundrevels.org