Taking the final bow with Elle Clark and Teresa Jackson

ICCC's "Legally Blonde" opens Feb. 27 at Decker Auditorium

By KYLIE PORTZ

FORT DODGE - After nearly three decades of staging world-class productions at Iowa Central Community College, Director of Theatre Teresa Jackson is taking her final bow with “Legally Blonde”.

“Legally Blonde” opens at the Decker Auditorium at Iowa Central’s Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Dodge. Showtimes are Feb. 27-March 1 at 7:00 p.m. with a 2:00 p.m. matinee performance on March 2.

Tickets can be purchased online at iowacentral.edu/tickets or from the box office located in the Center for Performing Arts, at the south entrance of the Decker Auditorium Lobby.

The box office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at $15 for adults and $10 for students, Iowa Central students get in for free with student ID.

This year marks Jackson’s 29th year teaching at Iowa Central Community College. Where she has directed musicals such as “The Drowsy Chaperone” or “The Scarlett Pimpernel” and plays like “John Lennon and Me” or “Falling Awake”.

Before taking over as Director of Theatre at Iowa Central, Jackson jumpstarted the theater program at Hawaii Pacific University and taught high schoolers at Fort Dodge Senior High. She has remained a fixture of the theatre community in Fort Dodge, judging competitions for the Iowa High School Speech Association, or helping area teams prepare for contests.

Jackson said, “I was expecting to go to year 30, but they offered this retirement package that is pretty amazing. I have grandkids on the way, and I always said I will go till I drop and or until I have grand-children. And that is luckily, the blessing of my life now. So I’m excited, you know, about that portion (of life).”

“But, I’ve been grieving this whole time, you know, I go to rehearsals and I cry. So at times, it’s when I’m exhausted, I go, ‘oh my gosh. I don’t know how much longer I can do this pace.’ My husband and I have been getting to bed at like 1 a.m. the past five days in a row, and that takes a toll on our energy levels. We are able to do it, and I l do love it, but it becomes all-encompassing. My life is the stage, and that means to the exclusion of everything else.”

“My mother is in town, she’s in her mid-80s and I want to be able to spend time with her without having these chunks of time where I disappear.” Jack-son said, “It’d be different if I didn’t put 50 kids on stage, right, I have a small cast show, but it’s just not my dream. I want to get as many kids to have this experience as possible.”

Jackson has been able to realize that dream with her cast of 50 for “Legally Blonde”

The show tells the story of sorority girl Elle Woods. Who, on a mission to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner, is admitted to Harvard Law, “What like it’s hard?”. Defying expectations while staying true to herself.

The musical was adapted from the MGM movie of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon. With lyrics and music by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach, “Legally Blonde” the musical opened at the Palace Theatre in NYC on April 29, 2007, receiving seven Tony nominations.

Leading the show at Iowa Central is Humboldt’s very own Elle Clark who made statewide headlines after winning the 2023 Bill Riley Talent Search and $10,000 at the Iowa State Fair.

Jackson and Clark have a special bond, as over the years Jackson has directed both her parents and her older sister Emma in shows on the Iowa Central Stage.

“She’s (Clark) an absolute dream. And what’s really cool is that I’ve known her all her life. I’ve loved her since she was in her womb.” Jackson said, “The reason her mom and dad know each other is through me and the show, so my thumbprint has been on that family since the beginning.

Clark and her sister have attended Teresa’s shows at Iowa Central since they were both babies. Jackson would even leave out M&M’s for the sisters when the pair would visit the director’s office after performances.

Clark said, “It’s really sentimental now that I’m here because I waited so long to be here and do shows with Teresa, and especially “Legally Blonde” because I went to that (show) for my birthday I think when I was like eight. I dressed up as Elle Woods and came here and Teresa let me tour the set, so it means a lot to be playing her now.”

Read the full story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!