Tomorrow, Twelfth Night Productions will produce Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma," a musical in set at the turn of the century in Indian Territory.

It is about the love affair between Curly and Laurey, Will Parker and Ado Annie, and the others that get in their way, including Jud Fry and countless other men.

What is Twelfth Night Productions? It is quaint West Seattle homegrown group that has been building since 1984. They began as a children's drama class lead by instructor and director, Mary Springer. Over the years the children grew up to direct and have gone on to study various facets of performing arts in college. Years later they have blossomed into a community performing arts group that delivers four performances a year.

Families and spouses have become involved, kids grew up together, and over the years have become a close-knit and heart warming group.

Rick Springer, the husband of director Mary Springer, has operated as board member, actor, and stage builder.

"Since the original drama classes, the kids have gotten older, some direct instead of Mary, and some have gone on to college to study drama," Springer says. "We've integrated adults into the show, with a wide range of people from the community. Every year there is a more diverse age and level of experience. It's all grown out of nothing, with no focused plan. Now we have four shows a year including Amal and the Night Visitors at Christmas that now shows at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge. We've donated $20,000 to organizations like ArtsWest and Youngstown Cultural Arts Center."

The vision of Twelfth Night is "to make community connections using the arts as a vehicle to bring people together."

Roxanne Violet, owner of a pottery company, will be playing Ado Annie and has found this to be true. She says, "I do theater because I love singing. It's the best way to bond with people. Where else can you sweat on each other, jump on them, drape your foot over them. I've only known these people for months but it feels like forever."

Travis Hicks, who will be playing Curly loves theater because "It's like a grown up playground."

Raffael Boccamazzo plays Will and is in a doctorate program for clinical psychology. He joined the group recently because he thinks the group is fantastic. "Everyone is here for the love of theater, there are no egos."

Mike Thoreson, who played an amazing performance as the dairyman Tevye, in "Fiddler on the Roof" in 2005, has been with Twelfth Night for 10 years and said in a nostalgic voice, "I've been with the group since before it was a group. I've seen a lot of kids grow up."

Philip Yovetich, a 17-year-old at Seattle Lutheran High School has been involved with Twelfth Night for five years. "I love all the people.... It's more than the love of drama. They kind of bring you in as part of a group by the second day." Yovetich hopes to study drama in college and go into radio broadcasting.

"Oklahoma" runs August 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, and 18 at the West Seattle High School Theater. Ticket prices are $10-$15. Director Springer says, "Come see "Oklahoma" because it is a classic American musical that changed the course of musical theatre in the United States. You should see our production of "Oklahoma" because we are all doing theatre because we love it and, because we love it, we do it well. We demonstrate that an all volunteer community theatre company can create a welcoming and professional environment that provides opportunities to participate in all aspects of a quality production." For more information visit http://www.twelfthnightproductions.org/.

Annette Herrick is a West Seattle freelance writer and may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com