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The Miss Hall's School Theater Ensemble makes plans for a wedding in its upcoming winter musical, the ABBA-inspired 'Mamma Mia!'
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Miss Hall's School Presents 'Mamma Mia!'

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Miss Hall's School Theater Ensemble makes plans for a wedding in its upcoming winter musical, the ABBA-inspired "Mamma Mia!"

Performances will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. All shows take place in the Woods Theater of the Elizabeth Gatchell Klein Arts Center on the Miss Hall's campus. General admission is $10, and reservations are recommended. Senior citizen and handicapped-accessible seating is available. Visit the website for tickets or call 413-443-6401.

Set on a fictional Greek Island, "Mamma Mia!" tells the story of Sophie, who dreams of a "perfect" wedding, escorted down the aisle by her father. The trouble is, Sophie does not know who her father is, so she invites the three most likely candidates to the wedding, which is hosted by her mother, Donna. However, Donna knows nothing of Sophie's intentions until guests begin arriving, and a resolution to Sophie's question becomes no clearer as the wedding draws near. That's all part of the fun of this lively production.

The MHS performances star junior Emily Carmel of Pittsfield as Sophie; senior Ainsley Schuth as Sophie's mother Donna; and senior Trudy Fadding of Glendale, sophomore Kate Nguyen and senior Cely Abreu as Sophie's potential fathers, Harry Bright, Bill Austin and Sam Carmichael.


The production also stars senior Sam Elliott of Pittsfield and junior Riagain Wiley as Donna's best friends and former bandmates, Rosie and Tanya; senior Sophie Shea of East Chatham, N.Y., and freshwoman Keely O’Gorman of Lee as Sophie’s friends, Ali and Lisa; and junior Erica Morales-Armstrong as Sophie's fiancé, Sky.

Also performing are freshwoman Milie Madourie and senior Ivy Wang as Sky's friends, Pepper and Eddie, while senior Gaea Cortes performs as Father Alexandrios and as a member of the chorus. The chorus also includes senior Jasmine Briggs, juniors Nancy Gao, Emma Kotelnicki of Dalton, Stacey Nguyen, Rea Rice, Evelyn Stewart, and Yuki Wei, sophomore Jiho Shin, and freshwomen Emma Adelson of Lee, Symaira Elliott of Pittsfield, Truc Hoang, Ruby McDonald of Valatie, N.Y., Cailyn Tetteh and Jacqueline Yang.

The production's technical crew includes seniors Rose Battista and Ingrid O’Dell as stage managers, and junior Annie Lombardi as assistant stage manager. Providing costume and prop assistance are juniors Bethany Song and Betty Xiao and freshwoman Daisy Feng, Emily Lombardi and Halie Swallie. Joe Rose serves as the production's musical director, while junior Soleil Laurin of Pittsfield is the assistant musical director. Jennifer Jordan, director of theater and dance at Miss Hall's School, directs the production.

"Mamma Mia!" opened in London in 1999, made its U.S. debut in 2000, and opened in 2001 on Broadway, closing in 2015 after nearly 5,800 performances. The popular jukebox musical has been produced in 50 countries on six continents, and in 2008, was adapted into a hit film.


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State Fire Marshal: New Tracking Tool Identifies 50 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

STOW, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services' new tool for tracking lithium-ion battery fires has helped to identify 50 such incidents in the past six months, more than double the annual average detected by a national fire data reporting system, said State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine.
 
The Department of Fire Services launched its Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Investigative Checklist on Oct. 13, 2023. It immediately went into use by the State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal's office, and local fire departments were urged to adopt it as well. 
 
Developed by the DFS Fire Safety Division, the checklist can be used by fire investigators to gather basic information about fires in which lithium-ion batteries played a part. That information is then entered into a database to identify patterns and trends.
 
"We knew anecdotally that lithium-ion batteries were involved in more fires than the existing data suggested," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "In just the past six months, investigators using this simple checklist have revealed many more incidents than we've seen in prior years."
 
Prior to the checklist, the state's fire service relied on battery fire data reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), a state-level tool that mirrors and feeds into the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). NFIRS tracks battery fires but does not specifically gather data on the types of batteries involved. Some fields do not require the detailed information that Massachusetts officials were seeking, and some fires may be coded according to the type of device involved rather than the type of battery. Moreover, MFIRS reports sometimes take weeks or months to be completed and uploaded.
 
"Investigators using the Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Checklist are getting us better data faster," said State Fire Marshal Davine. "The tool is helpful, but the people using it are the key to its success."
 
From 2019 to 2023, an average of 19.4 lithium-ion battery fires per year were reported to MFIRS – less than half the number identified by investigators using the checklist over the past six months. The increase since last fall could be due to the growing number of consumer devices powered by these batteries, increased attention by local fire investigators, or other factors, State Fire Marshal Davine said. For example, fires that started with another item but impinged upon a battery-powered device, causing it to go into thermal runaway, might not be categorized as a battery fire in MFIRS or NFIRS.
 
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