Scroggins and Pennell make dynamic duo

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Scroggins and Pennell make dynamic duo
Pair spends four decades working in theater together

JASON SIBERT PHOTO Margaret Holland Pennell (left) and Bev Scroggins have worked together on several musicals and regular stage plays. Pennell often works on the choreography and Scroggins directs actors.

By Jason Sibert
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:13 AM CDT

Granite City residents Bev Scroggins and Margaret Holland Pennell have enjoyed a partnership in the theater that stretches back to the 1960s.

Pennell, a choreographer, and Scroggins, a director, have worked on hundreds of theater productions together over the years. They've often worked with SummerStage, a Granite City-based community theater group and on Granite City High School productions. Scroggins served as a theater and speech teacher at Granite City High School for 30 years.

Pennell and Scroggins both grew up in Granite City. Pennell's father, James Holland, and Scroggins' mother, Murial Nelson, had the leads in a Granite City High School play in 1932. Although the two weren't close as children, Scroggins and Pennell both started performing in dance recitals when they were 3 years old."My grandmother used to play the piano by ear," Pennell said. "My grandmother used to play and I would dance. I would choreograph when I was about 5. I would make up the steps and teach the neighborhood kids. It was fun."

Scroggins and Pennell both acted in school dramas at Granite City High School, but they never appeared in a high school production together. The partnership started when the two acted in a play staged by a theater group called Masquers, in Collinsville in the late 1960s. Scroggins later directed shows for Masquers and Pennell served as a choreographer.

"When one of us gets an idea, the other one works with it," Scroggins said when asked about what's made the partnership successful. "Then the other will get an idea and we'll work with it. It's been a great collaboration over the years. We've had a lot of fun. I think we've done some excellent productions through the years."

Scroggins and Pennell have teamed up on musicals such as "Fiddler on the Roof," "Into the Woods," "The Sound of Music" and "George M." Pennell seems to have a talent for bringing out the best in non-professionals.

"She's a great choreographer and she knows how to adjust the dances for people who aren't really dancers," Scroggins said of Pennell. "Some people will decide on a certain step, and whether people can do the step or not, they'll do it, and it doesn't look very good. When she finds out people aren't capable of something, she changes it so they look good on stage."

In addition to musicals, Scroggins also directs dramas and comedies. Pennell has served as a set designer and associate director in plays Scroggins directed such as "The Foreigner," "Sunday in New York" and "The Crucible."

The relationship is more than professional, as Scroggins says she and Pennell "are like sisters."

"Aside from community theater, we're very, very close friends," she said. "And we have been for 40 years or more."

Scroggins and Pennell both applied their talents as director and choreographer this summer to SummerStage's production of "The Music Man," which will be staged at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Performing Arts Center at Granite City High School. The two have worked on three different productions of "The Music Man." It's a production which requires Pennell to choreograph children. She has years of experience with young people, as she's currently the principal at Holy Family Catholic School in Granite City. Pennell also taught grade school children for several years.

"I work with our music teacher (at Holy Family) in producing two musicals a year," Pennell said. "I have done this for 20 years. It's a wonderful experience and the kids are great. They're so enthusiastic, and they love music and they love movement."

Scroggins says receiving the most out of each and every performer is what she and Pennell strive for.

"The bottom line is to teach your people to try to do the very best they can do," Scroggins said. "If they're not all professionals, it's not going to be a professional production, but our productions are very good. When she choreographs, she tries to make people do what they can do well and try not to make them do something they can't do. I think our goal has always been to try to do the very best we're capable of, all of us, together, that's the bottom line."